294 
operations of nature, and took great interest in philo- 
sophical pursuits generally ; hence soon after settling in 
Manchester he sought admission into the Literary and 
Philosophical Society; his election, on January 25, 1842, 
taking place by a singular chance on the same day with 
Dr. Joule’s and Dr. Schunck’s, subsequently sharers with 
him in the honours of the presidency. In this Society, so 
congenial to his tastes, he was a leading spirit. It was 
mainly owing to his energy that the Society was main- 
tained in its position as a publishing institution, and to it 
many of his more important papers were addressed. 
One of the earliest of these was in 1843, when he read 
a paper entitled ‘“An Account of the Petroleum found in 
Downholland Moss,” showing that petroleum could be 
produced from the decomposition, or rather distillation of 
peat at a low temperature. Little was before known of 
the origin or utility of this product. In the inquiry he 
was associated with Mr. W. H. Talbot, who assisted him 
in making the bores and obtaining information respecting 
the moss. The following is extracted from Mr. Binney’s 
statement to the Philosophical Society (Proceedings of 
the Society, vol. viii. p. 136). “On the 26th November, 
1848, I went to Downholland and showed the deposit to 
Mr. James Young, and explained to him how the petroleum 
was there formed. This was before I accompanied that 
gentleman to Riddings, at Easter, 1849, and went down 
Mr. Oakes’s pit, where the deep coal was wrought, and 
petroleum flowed from the roof. At both those places 
the supply of petroleum was not sufficient for commercial 
purposes on an extensive scale. The Bathgate works 
were the cause of the petroleum trade in America. In 
Scotland paraffin oil was first made on a large scale and 
introduced as an article of commerce. In the suit of 
Young v. White and others, tried at Westminster in 1854, 
the circumstances under which Mr. Young first became 
acquainted with the petroleum at Riddings were given to 
the public. Of course when the Americans saw the 
report of that trial they ceased to import high-priced 
Boghead coal from Scotland, upon which they had to pay 
a patent right for the manufacture of paraffin oil, and 
immediately resorted to petroleum, which had been 
running to waste for ages.” 
The name “paraffin,’’ adopted by Mr. Binney, was a 
principal means by which the patent was established. 
The successful commercial enterprise thus commenced 
did not alienate Mr. Binney from the pursuit of science. 
Besides his paper “On the Origin of Coal,’” December 1, 
1846, he made elaborate investigations on Permian and 
Triassic Strata; on building stones, of which he made 
the collection in the geological museum which he was 
mainly concerned in establishing, and filling with speci- 
mens of his own collecting; the drift deposits of Man- 
chester and its neighbourhood,” &c., &c. From the last- 
named paper I extract a paragraph indicating his love of 
the subject :—‘‘ The examination of the older fossiliferous 
rocks, rich with the remains of organic life, has generally 
attracted the attention of geologists, to the exclusion of 
the drift, which has been but too often considered as a 
dry and uninteresting study. My intention is to attempt 
to dispel this delusion. However delightful it may be to 
the human mind to examine the ‘medals of creation,’ as 
Cuvier aptly denominate1 fossil organic remains, and to 
trace back through countless ages the successive races of 
beings that have formerly peopled this globe—performed 
the parts for which they were designed, and then ceased 
to exist; to investigate the various forms of vegetable life 
that deprived the atmosphere of its surplus carbon, for 
the double purpose of forming our invaluable beds of coal, 
and at the same time fitting the air for the respiration of 
animals of a higher order; and to examine the wonderful 
chemical agencies that have been in operation in the 
great laboratory of nature, in order to prepare our metallic 
and mineral treasures ; still, the last great physical causes 
which have operated on the face of the globe, and adapted 
NATURE 
*é ’ 
(Fan. 26, 1882 
it for the habitation of man, deserve our attention in an 
equal, if not more pre-eminent degree. 
“Tt is to this last and finishing stroke of the Creator 
that the earth chiefly owes its present arrangement of 
land and water, its beautiful variety of hill and dale, and 
its different kinds of soils for the support and nourish- 
ment of the vegetable kingdom—that wondrous agent for 
the conversion of brute into organic matter, which fits it 
for food for the use of the animal creation, and man him- 
self.’ (“Manchester Memoirs,” vol. viii. N. Ser. p. 196). 
Mr. Binney had great sympathy with all earnest intel- 
lectual labourers, particularly with those of straitened 
means, and it did not matter much with him in what field 
their energies were displayed. Thus among those he 
helped with his counsel and assistance, Sturgeon, to 
whom we owe so many first steps in theoretical and 
practical electricity, is a striking example. It was through 
Mr. Binney’s exertions that this singularly gifted man 
was rescued from poverty and received Government re- 
cognition of his discoveries. Then there were Butter- 
worth the geometrician, Bamford the poet, Richard 
Buxton the botanist, and many others, whom he cared for 
with almost a paternal solicitude. ‘ 
Sixteen years ago he purchased Ravenscliff, in the 
Isle of Man, and there he spent a large portion of his 
time, showing much hospitality to men of kindred tastes 
to his own. There he took pleasure in botany and such 
geological investigation as the island afforded. He 
desired nothing more ardently than that nature should 
flourish around him, and his place was fragrant with 
myrtles, escalloniz, and roses. He took much interest 
in a Eucalyptus elobulus, which, planted close to the sea, 
grew to the height of twenty feet in a few years. 
I do not recollect any one whose heart seemed as it 
were to go out to all living things with the warmth of 
affection shown by him. I cannot in this regard help 
recalling a circumstance which occurred in a walk with 
him on Langness. A bird’s nest containing two eggs 
being found on the ground, he flung himself down beside 
it and contemplated it with the greatest delight, but with- 
out touching or disturbing it in the least. 
He was an enemy to all the so-called “sports’’ in 
which cruelty to animals and gambling are the principal 
features, such as pigeon-shooting, horse-racing, &c. To 
one who asked him to subscribe 5/. for the establishment 
of a race-course his characteristic reply was: “I will 
gladly subscribe 5/. to prevent it.’ He even possessed a 
kind of sympathy, known only to poetic minds, for 
vegetable life, fully concurring with a remark I made to 
him, that a man who could take pleasure in felling a 
noble tree must be destitute of the finer feelings of 
humanity. 
Mr. Binney had a large, muscular frame, and his 
countenance in profile resembled that of Cato the censor, 
with whose character he had many points of strong 
resemblance. 
Long time a sufferer in health without fatiguing his 
friends with complaints, ‘the silver cord was loosed”’ 
on December 8. The paralysis terminated fatally on the 
19th, and on the 23rd he was buried in the family grave 
at Worksop. 
He has left a widow, daughter of the Rev. David Jones, 
Rector of Hope Bagot, near Ludlow, and six children. 
J. P. JOULE 
THE LATE CHANGES IN THE VESUVIAN 
CONE 
N2 VEMBER, 1881.—The condition of the crater of 
Vesuvius is at present exceedingly interesting. This 
is especially so after the continuous active state that the 
mountain has been in for nearly three years. The old 
crater of 1872 is now completely filled, and has in fact 
been so for some time. About three-quarters of the edge 
