302 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



had done more than any man to establish the grand 

 features of the outside structure of the earth, and 

 to prove the succession everywhere of the same 

 great formations. He was knighted in 1846, an 

 honour which was appreciated in those days, but 

 which is not compatible with the proper simplicity 

 and nobility of science at the present time. Every- 

 body was glad of the honour being given, and 

 received by Murchison, and " Sir Roderick," for the 

 future came as aptly to the thoughts of his friends 

 as " Mr. Murchison " had done of old. There is no 

 doubt that at this time this experienced geologist 

 believed that great lapses of time had occurred, 

 involving great distinctions and new creations 

 between the successive geological formations, that 

 great changes had happened, universally, in the 

 physical geography of the land and sea before a 

 new formation was produced, and that the vast 

 majority of fossils found in one were not recog- 

 nized in a succeeding formation. He believed much 

 in grand and sudden catastrophic changes in nature. 

 The presidency of the British Association was 

 given to the new scientific knight, and he worthily 

 occupied the chair at the meeting at Southampton 

 in 1846. 



In 1848, the year of revolution in Europe, 

 Murchison enjoyed foreign politics and Alpine 

 geology, and made the acquaintance of most of the 

 young Swiss geologists, whose names are now so 

 celebrated. An essay on the geology of the Alps 

 was written, and our hero received the Copley 



