SKETCH OF WILLIAM PENGELLY. 115 



for a third time to geology while looking over some books which he 

 thought might be useful to his pupils, when he found one published 

 by the brothers Chambers, which contained a chapter on that science. 

 This was not much, but it was enough to inform him how much had 

 already been done in geology, and, perhaps, to give him a hint of 

 some of the possibilities that lay in it. From this time on, he was ar- 

 dently interested in geology. The journal of his first visit to London 

 and the British Museum, in 1843, attests how he was becoming ab- 

 sorbed in it. He spent his holidays in geological explorations and in 

 excursions which gradually grew larger, until his position as a geolo- 

 gist was recognized, and he became an authority respecting all points 

 and phenomena which had come under his personal knowledge. A 

 hint dropped to him by Professor Jameson as he was about to visit the 

 Isle of Arran taught him to make his notes of observations on the 

 spot, and greatly helped, his daughter Hester observes in the biography 

 on which we have drawn very largely, " to form those habits of ex- 

 treme accuracy which characterized all his scientific work." 



In 1837 Mr. Pengelly assisted in the reorganization of the Tor- 

 quay Mechanics' Institute, with which he maintained a connection 

 for more than twenty years, and before which he delivered many lec- 

 tures. In 1844 he participated in the organization of the Torquay 

 Natural History Society, of which he became, in 1851, honorary 

 secretary, and remained so for more than thirty-nine years. " Under 

 his guidance it became a scientific power in the country. Year after 

 year he lectured there, tincturing the locality with his own enthusi- 

 asm; and from the society there ultimately sprang the museum in 

 Babbacombe Road, with its admirable collections." 



His lectures, delivered gratuitously at Torquay, were very pop- 

 ular, and were attended by large audiences. The fame of them 

 spread, and he was called to other places Exeter, Exmouth, and 

 larger towns and farther off, and to the great learned societies where 

 he lectured, always with success, and to the satisfaction and delight 

 of his audiences. " Those persons living, and they are many," says 

 Mr. F. S. Ellis in the preface to Hester Pengelly's biography of her 

 father, " who had the good fortune to hear Pengelly lecture will bear 

 ready witness to the complete mastery he always had of his subject, 

 and of the faculty of imparting his knowledge. Even when speaking 

 upon abstruse subjects 'to a mixed audience, he would make the 

 matter perfectly clear without in any degree appearing to talk down 

 to the capacity of those he was addressing. . . . His manner was no 

 less pleasing and attractive than the language in which he clothed 

 his ideas was grateful to the ear." Geology and astronomy furnished 

 the subjects of the lectures. 



It would be impracticable in a brief sketch to follow the detail 



