2/4 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



years of active life for completion, lurked pain and 

 fatal disease. At first it seemed as if the remedies 

 applied were producing beneficial effects, but this 

 hope failed ; the uncomplaining sufferer sank con- 

 tinually in each succeeding hour, till his eyes lost 

 their bright and kindly light and the ever-varying 

 features became fixed in serene and awful tran- 

 quility (Aug. 28, 1839). 



His life, written by his distinguished relation the 

 late Professor John Phillips, F.R.S. of Oxford, has 

 been the source of these pages. William Smith's 

 portrait hangs in the most distinguished position, 

 over the president's choir at the Geological Society 

 of London. He was a great genius, and suffered 

 much toil and poverty, in order to produce the 

 truth ; but he led a very happy life on the whole 

 for his thoughts about nature were his great and 

 good riches. He proved that there is a regular 

 succession of strata which are characterized by 

 their fossils, each stratum being the burial ground 

 of its time of collection. 



