who by his will dated in 1727 founded 

 the Chair. Michell did not hold the office 

 for quite two years, having to vacate it 

 on his marriage in 1 764. There appears 

 to be no evidence that during his short 

 . tenure of the office he ever gave geological 

 lectures 1 . But the intimate acquaintance 

 with geological phenomena shown in his 

 essay on Earthquakes, communicated to 

 the Royal Society in the spring of 1760, 

 proves that he was well qualified to lecture 

 on a subject which he had pursued with 

 zeal in the field. It is difficult to believe 

 that he did not Impart to his under- 

 graduate friends some of the knowledge 

 which he had gained in many traverses 

 across the southern counties, if indeed he 

 did not take them with him in some of 

 his rambles. 



A brief description of MichelFs per- 

 sonal appearance in his College days, 

 penned by a contemporary diarist and 

 preserved among the manuscripts of the 



1 Life of Adam Stdgwick^ vol. I, p. 192. 



7 



