NA TURE 



\Nov. 2, 1871 



SIR RODERICK MURCHISON 



'X'HE life of a scientific man is for the most part un- 

 -'■ eventful, and perhaps to the world at large unin- 

 teresting. That he was born, lived a certain number of 

 years, and died, are ofttn the ch'tf facts chronicled of the 

 man himself Of his work and of the influence of his 

 work men are willing to read, but for the story of his life, 

 with its c|uiet everyday monotony, they care little. Vet it 

 is true, at least of the higher type of mind, that the story 

 of the man's life and the history of the work he accom- 

 plished are inseparably connected, and are each necessary 

 for the understanding of the other. There arise, too, ever 

 and anon instances when the man was not merely a man 

 of science, but one whose scientific career formed as it 

 were a nucleus round which many other and often diver- 

 gent interests gathered. Such a man's life is sometimes 



linked in so many ways with that of the society in which 

 he lived, that its chronicle becomes in some degree the 

 history of his time. And such a man was Roderick linpey 

 Murchison. By no means standing on the highest plat- 

 form of scientific intellect, a patient gatherer of facts 

 rather than a brilliant generaliser from them, he yet gained 

 by common consent in the commonwealth of science the 

 position of a king, under whom men of all ranks, and even 

 men of far higher ability and attainment than hisovn, 

 were not only willing but delighted to serve. He held a 

 place which no other man of science left among us now 

 fills. It was not merely hi-; achievements in geology, 

 memorable as these were, which gave him that proud 

 pre-eminence, nor did he owe anything to success in other 

 branches of science, for he seldom travelled beyond what 

 he knew to be his proper domain, nor to graces of literary 

 style, on which men of slender acquirements often float 



BRICK r. MURCHISON 



into popularity. He wrote only on geological and geo- 

 graphical subjects, and in a solid matter-of-fact way not 

 likely to attract readers who did not previously care for 

 his subjects. It was his personal character, his noble- 

 heartedness, his indomitable energy, his tact and courtesy, 

 the dignity and grace which he never failed to show even 

 to opponents, and the social position which his family and 

 fortune gave him, and which enabled him greatly to extend 

 the respect shown in society to science and scientific men, 

 — it was these causes which largely went to make Sir Rode- 

 rick's influence what it was. A narrative, to do him justice, 

 should tell how these causes came into play, and how, 

 combined with the regard which he could always claim for 

 his solid contributions to science, they placed him so high 

 in the scientific circle in which he moved. 



Murchison was born on February 19, 1792, at his 



father's little estate of Tarradale, in Eastern Ross shire. 

 He used to speak with fondriess of the fact that he first 

 saw the light amid those old pal.xozoic sandstones, con- 

 glomerates, and schists, on which he was afterwards to 

 rest part of his title to fame. Yet it was not among the 

 wilds of Ross that he acquired a love for rocks. He was 

 removed from his birthplace at an early age, and taken 

 into Dorsetshire, and though when still a child he was 

 brought back into Scotland, and remained with his 

 mother at Edinburgh for a short while, it was in England 

 that he spent most of his boyhood, and where he was 

 educated. At the age of fifteen he obtained a commission 

 in the 36th Regiment of Foot, and served in the Penin- 

 sula under Sir Arthur VVellesley. He carried the colours 

 at the Battle of Vimiera, and went through much hard- 

 ship in the retreat of Corunna. At the end of the war, 



