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♦ KNOV\^LEDGE ♦ 



[Feb. 1, 1886. 



GEOLOGY IN LONDON, 



By W. Jerome Harrison, F.G.S. 



[Before writing the Geology of London, I think it will be well to 

 say a few words about Geology in London, explaining the facilities 

 which the metropolis affords for acquiring, or adding to, a know- 

 ledge of that science] 



5 ANT a dweller in London lias, to uiy know- 

 ledge, scorned the idea that he, or she, 

 was favourably situated for acquiring a 

 knowledge of geology. " What can I do 

 among the bricks and mortar ! " they 

 exclaim ; and they envy the lot of those 

 who live in wild Wales or stony Scotland, 

 wluru the opportunities for studying the rocks are, they 

 thiuk, so very superior. 



But it is of no use to be .surrounded by quarries and 

 cliifs unless the power of understanding the phenomena 

 they exhibit has been, or can be, acquired. Teachers 

 must be at hand, and museums must be accessible, if the 

 way of the tyro is to be made smooth. As a place for 

 learning geology I know of no district to equal London. 

 As a home for the advanced student of the science London 

 is equally desirable, with its grand collections of books 

 and specimens, and the opportunities afforded by its 

 scientific societies for the meeting of kindred spirits. 

 Many a man of science has made great sacrifices in order 

 to be able to dwell in London, and avail himself of these 

 advantages. 



Let us see, first, what public collections of geological 

 specimens exist in London. 



THE MUSEUM OP PRACTICAL GEOLOGY, JEEMYN STREET. 



The most central is the Geological Museum in Jermyn- 

 street. We owe this fine building to the energy of the 

 late Sir Henry de la Beche, the first Director of the 

 Geological Survey. The museum was opened by Prince 

 Albert in 18.51. It is free to the public on Mondays and 

 Saturdays, from ten to ten; and on other days (Friday 

 excepted), from ten a.m. to four or five p.m. The build- 

 ing is illuminated, on the two evenings on which it is 

 open weekly, by the electric light. 



The present Curator, Mr. F. W. Rudler, is not only 

 among the most able, but is one of the most courteous of 

 museum-keepers ; his kindness and patience are as inex- 

 haustible as his knowledge, as I — with many others who 

 have " wanted to know " — can gratefully testify. 



Adjoining this museum is the headquarters of our 

 national Geological Survey. Its officerB are ever examin- 

 ing the strata in some part or other of England, and 

 all the specimens of rocks, fossils, and minerals which 

 they collect are sent up to Jermyn-street, there to be 

 named and catalogued ; while the choicest specimens are 

 placed in the museum cases. In this way, aided by 

 purchases and by numerous bequests — one of which alone, 

 the Ledlam collection of minerals, is of the estimated 

 value of £15,000— the Jermyn-street Museum has 

 acquired a magnificent and very extensive series of speci- 

 mens illustrating mainly British geology. In the well- 

 written "Descriptive Guide" of nearly two hundred 

 pages (price sixpence) a full account of the contents of 

 the building is given. In the entrance hall the building 

 and ornamental stones of the United Kingdom are ex- 

 hibited ; upstairs, on the principal floor, is the grand 

 collection of minerals, which are worth viewing, if only 

 for their beautiful forms and colours. Here, too, are .some 

 memorials of Sir Roderick Murchison, the splendid vase of 

 avanturine, and other objects presented to him by Nicholas, 

 Emperor of Russia. Close to this vase is a geological model 



of London, embracing about 165 square miles, and offering, 

 as far as may be, a really " royal road " to the understanding 

 of the arrangement of the strata in and around the metro- 

 polis. This model not only shows the rocks which are at 

 the surface, but its sides reveal the strata to a depth of 

 1,000 feet. It is in nine sections, any one of which can 

 be raised for separate examination. The light iron gal- 

 leries which siirround the hall rise tier above tier, and 

 the cases which they contain include many thousands of 

 specimens of rocks and fossils, each carefully labelled and 

 arranged in stratigraphical order ; i.e., the fossils from 

 the oldest rocks come first, and are placed as one group; 

 aud so on, up to those which we know to be of compara- 

 tively recent date. Here the student may bring his 

 "find," and it must be rare indeed if it cannot be 

 matched, so that he is enabled to learn its name and 

 nature. Besides the geological collections, the Jermyn- 

 street Museum contains a large and valuable collection of 

 British pottery, porcelain, and glass. There is a fine 

 library, accessible to all who state the object with which 

 they wish to consult the books ; and a lecture-theatre in 

 which science-lectures are delivered during the winter to 

 crowded audiences of working-men. Besides the General 

 Guide already named, there are six printed catalogues, 

 describing very fully the various collections. The 

 Jermyn-street Geological Museum is certainly an insti- 

 tution which no one can visit without obtaining both 

 profit and pleasure. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON. 



The great and continually increasing pressure on the 

 rooms of the British Museum in Great Russell-slreet, 

 long ago determined the trustees to find accommodation 

 elsewhere for the natural history collections, and in 1881 

 they were transferred to the magnificent terra-cotta 

 building erected from the designs of Mr. Waterhouse, in 

 Cromwell-road, South Kensington. The guide-books 

 which have beeu written to the various galleries here are 

 ,so admirable, and withal so cheap, that we strongly 

 recommend every student to send for them, whether they 

 ever intend to visit the Museum or not. They include a 

 guide to the galleries of Geology and Palseontology (3d.), 

 the Mineral gallery (3d.), Meteorites (Id.), Fossil Pishes 

 (3d.), and index to the collection of Minerals (2d.). The 

 principal workers by whom the collections have been 

 arranged and the guide-books written, are Dr. H. 

 Woodward, and Messrs. L. Fletcher, R. Etheridge, 

 T. Davies, and W. Davies. Dr. W. Flight, whose 

 knowledge of meteorites was simply encyclopasdic, has 

 died quite recently. The specimens here are great in 

 number, and probably unequalled in the world for rarity, 

 size, and beauty. The fossils are arranged zoologically, 

 all the members of each genus, order, family, &c., being 

 placed together ; a plan which forms the complement to 

 that adopted at Jermyn-street, where, as we have seen, 

 the fossils are classed stratigraphically. The collection 

 of meteorites includes "air-stones " which have fallen in 

 all parts of the world, some being of great size and 

 weight. 



This museum is open every weekday from 10 a.m. to 

 4, 5, or 6 p.m., according to the season of the year ; and 

 on Mondays and Saturdays till 8 p.m. in summer, and 

 7 p.m. in winter. 



THE MUSEUM OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



In the rooms of the Geological Society, at Burlington- 

 house, Piccadilly, there is an extensive geological collec- 

 tion, intended especially to represent and illustrate the 

 papers on geological subjects which are read to the 



