SOME INDIAN MONSTERS. 165 



took toll of them to supply the want. Nature herself became his 

 library and his museum. Skeletons of all kinds were prepared ; 

 the extinct forms he collected were compared with their nearest 

 living allies, and a valuable series of "Memoirs" by himself and 

 Captain Cautley was the result. 1 



The Sivalik explorations soon attracted attention in Europe, 

 and in 1837 the Wollaston Medal, in duplicate, was awarded for 

 their discoveries to Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley by the 

 Geological Society, the fountain of geological honours in England ; 

 while the value of the distinction was enhanced by the terms 

 in which the President, Sir Charles Lyell, was pleased to an- 

 nounce the award. This is what he said : " When Captain Cautley 

 and Dr. Falconer first discovered these remarkable remains, their 

 curiosity was awakened, and they felt convinced of their great 

 scientific value ; but they were not versed in fossil osteology [the 

 study of bones], and, being stationed on the remote confines of 

 our Indian possessions, they were far distant from any living, 

 authorities or books on comparative anatomy to which they could 

 refer. The manner in which they overcame these disadvantages, 

 and the enthusiasm with which they continued for years to prosecute 

 their researches, when thus isolated from the scientific world, are 

 truly admirable. Dr. Royle has permitted me to read a part 

 of their correspondence with him, when they were exploring the 

 Sivalik Mountains, and I can bear witness to their extraordinary 

 energy and perseverance. From time to time they earnestly 

 requested that Cuvier's works might be sent out to them, and 

 expressed their disappointment when, from various accidents, 

 these volumes failed to arrive. The delay, perhaps, was fortu- 

 nate ; for, being thrown entirely upon their own resources, they 

 soon found a museum of comparative anatomy in the surrounding 

 plains, hills, and jungles, where they slew the wild tigers, buffaloes, 

 antelopes, and other Indian quadrupeds, of which they preserved 



1 These appeared in the Asiatic Researches, the Journal of 'the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal, and in the Geological Transactions of the London Geological Society. 



