4 HISTORICAL NOTICES. CHAP. 



engineer, had acquired a perfect knowledge of the stratification 

 of England, and had constructed geological maps of the kingdom 

 at large, and of several counties in particular. He did not however 

 fully publish these results of his labours till 1814, when the great 

 Map of the Strata of England and Wales appeared, followed at 

 intervals by maps of twenty-one English counties, including Oxford- 

 shire and Gloucestershire. 



One of his early observations in the valley of the Cherwell, 

 between Rowsham and Steeple Aston, was illustrated by the sketch 

 section of the strata which is presented below. 



Diagram I. i. Sandy clay. 2. Rock, 20 feet. 3. Wet clay. (Spring of water 

 here.) 4. Ovenstone or soft sandstone. 5. White sand, 6 feet. 6. White 

 stone. The Road to Hopcroft's Holt is dotted. 



Dr. Kidd was Professor of Chemistry, and conducted his much- 

 attached students to other branches of natural science in Oxford 

 during the first quarter of this century. In 1815 he published 

 a 'Geological Essay / containing several observations of value in 

 relation to the country round Oxford, and specially clearing up 

 much of the confusion which prevailed respecting the gravel de- 

 posits at different levels in the Thames valley and on the bordering 



hills e. 



We next come to the great name of Buckland f , born at Ax- 

 minster, amidst rocks full of fossils like many which were common 



e Dr. Kidd also published, in 1809, a rather considerable volume on mineralogy. 

 * Obituary notice in Proceedings of Royal Society, 1856 : Born, 1784 ; Died, 1856. 



