282 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



ogy by this gentleman. By profession a mineral surveyor, 

 he was, of course, a practical geologist, and being a man 

 of strong mind, sound judgment, and moral courage, he 

 pursued an independent course, without being committed to 

 existing theories. In commencing my geological lectures, 

 I used the sketch of the Wernerian system, which was an- 

 nexed as an appendix to Brochant's " Mineralogy," and 

 from this I derived important aid ; but I found it difficult 

 to make out all the Wernerian distinctions, and to identify 

 the rocks which they were intended to illustrate. I was, 

 therefore, greatly relieved by Mr. BakewelPs straightfor- 

 ward, common-sense method, which tore away and threw 

 aside useless subtleties and refinements, and took strong 

 hold of the great framework of the subject. I therefore 

 decided to adopt Mr. Bakewell's work as a text-book, and 

 wrote to the author, requesting that any additions or cor- 

 rections might be forwarded to me. Eventually I pub- 

 lished three editions with copious notes and additions, and 

 the work was generally adopted in this country. My first 

 edition was from Mr. Bakewell's third. 



We became, of course, correspondents, and his letters 

 were always interesting and instructive, and sometimes 

 brilliant with original thoughts. Wishing to see the origi- 

 nal types representing Mr. Bakewell's ideas,' I obtained 

 from him a small collection of rocks and minerals which 

 came out, numbered in reference to a detailed catalogue 

 which accompanied them. In earlier years I became ac- 

 quainted, at Edinburgh, as I have already stated, with the 

 geological ideas that prevailed in Scotland, and was famil- 

 iar with their representative types. Now I had before me 

 the palpable thoughts (so far as stones could represent 

 them) of an eminent English geologist, and I had the sat- 

 isfaction of finding that I had before not erred in any im- 

 portant fact or opinion. 



Mr. Bakewell appeared much gratified that his work had 

 been made so extensively known in this country. In the 



