258 
may be permitted the pleasure of this reminiscence, since 
from the day when he learned the name of the horseman 
in Teesdale, till within a few days of his death, he had 
the happiness of enjoying his intimate friendship. 
Sedgwick had acquired fame before Murchison began 
his great career. After sharing in Peninsular wars, 
and chasing the fox in Yorkshire, the “old soldier” 
became a young geologist, and for many years worked 
with admirable devotion to his chief, and carried his 
banner through Scotland, and Germany, and across the 
Alps, with the same spirit as he had shown when bearing 
the colours for Wellington at Vimiera. 
Important communications on Arran and the north of 
Scotland, including Caithness (1828) and the Moray Firth, 
others on Gosau and the eastern Alps (1829-1831), 
and still later, in 1837, a great memoir on the Paleozoic 
Strata of Devonshire and Cornwall, and another on the 
coeval rocks of Belgium and North Germany, show the 
labours of these intimate friends combined in the happiest 
way—the broad generalisations in which the Cambridge 
Professor delighted, well supported by the indefatigable 
industry of his zealous companion. 
The most important work in the lives of these two 
eminent men was performed in and around the princi- 
pality of Wales ; Sedgwick, as might be expected, lavish- 
ing all his energies in a contest with the disturbed strata, 
the perplexing dykes, and the cleavage of the lowest and 
least understood groups of rocks; Murchison choosing 
the upper deposits exceptionally rich in fossils, and on 
the whole presenting but little perplexity as to succession 
and character. One explorer, toiling upward from the 
base, the other descending from the top, they came after 
some years of labour (1831 to 1835) in sight of each other, 
and presented to the British Association meeting in 
Dublin a general view of the stratified rocks of Wales. 
Thus were painfully unfolded the Cambrian and Silu- 
rian systems, which speedily became, ina sense, thescientific 
property of the discoverers, and were supposed to be 
firmly separated by natural and unmistakeable bound- 
aries. They were, however, not really traced to their 
junction, though Murchison stated that he had found 
many distinct passages from the lowest member of the 
Silurian system into the underlying slaty rocks named by 
Prof. Sedgwick the “ Upper Cambrian ;” while Sedgwick 
admitted that his upper Cambrian, occupying the 
Berwyns, was connected with the Llandeilo flags of 
the Silurian system, and thence expanded through 
a considerable portion of South Wales (Reports of Brit. 
Assoc., 1835). The Bala rocks were disclaimed on 
a cursory view by Murchison, the Llandeilo beds sur- 
rendered without sufficient examination by Sedgwick ; 
thus the two kingdoms overlapped largely ; two classifi- 
cations gradually appeared ; the grand volume of Murchi- 
son was issued ; and then began by degrees a difference 
of opinion which finally assumed a controversial aspect, 
always to be deplored between two of the most truly 
attached and mutually helpful cultivators of geological 
science in England :— 
“ Ambo animis, ambo insignes preestantibus armis.” 
This source of lasting sorrow to both, if it cannot be for- 
gotten, ought to be only remembered with the tenderness 
of regret, 
NATURE 
[Feb. 6, 1873 
Familiar as we now are with the rich fauna of the 
Cambrian and Silurian rocks, and their equivalents in 
Bohemia and America, it is not difficult to understand, 
and we may almost feel again the sustained enthusiasm 
which welcomed the discoveries which seemed to reveal 
the first state of the sea, and the earliest series of marine _ 
life, “ primaque ab origine mundi,” almost to complete the 
physical history of the earth. Starting with a general view 
of the structure of the Lake Mountains of the north of 
England, and the great dislocations by which they have 
been separated from the neighbouring chains (Geol. 
Proc. Jan. 1831). Sedgwick won his difficult way through 
North Wales to a general synopsis of the series of strati- 
fied rocks below the Old Red sandstone, and attempted to 
determine the natural groups and formations (Geol. 
Proc. May, 1838). Three systems were named in order— 
Lower Cambrian, Upper Cambrian, Silurian—the working 
out of which, stream by stream, and hill by hill, worthily 
tasked the energies of Ramsay and his friends of the 
National Survey for many useful years, after increasing 
ill-health had much reduced the field-work of the Pro- 
fessor. 
But now he began to labour more earnestly than 
ever in the enlargement and setting in order of the 
collections which were under his personal charge. In 
1818, these consisted almost wholly of the small series be- 
queathed by Dr. Woodward ; nowthey have been expanded 
by the perpetual attention and generosity of Sedgwick, into 
one of the grandest collections of well-arranged rocks and 
fossils in the world. One of the latest acquisitions is the 
fine cabinet of Yorkshire fossils, purchased by C mbridge 
as a mark of loving respect for her great teacher in his 
fast decaying days, 
In this work of setting in order a vast collection gathered 
from various regions, and from all classes of deposits, 
Prof. Sedgwick, with wise liberality, engaged the willing 
aid of some of his own pupils, and of other powerful 
hands brought to Cambridge for the purpose. Ansted, 
Barrett, Seeley, M‘Coy, Salter, Morris, have all helped in 
this good work, and to their diligence and acumen were 
added the unrivalled skill and patience of Keeping, one 
of the best “fossilists” in Europe. Those who in this 
manner have concurred in the labours of their chief, one 
and all found in him the kindest of friends, the most con- 
siderate of masters—one who never exacted from others, 
and always gave to his assistants more than the praise 
and the delicate attention which their services deserved. 
The ample volumes entitled “ British Palzeozoic Rocks 
and Fossils, 1851-5,” by Sedgwick and M‘Coy, must be 
consulted for a complete view of the classification finally 
adopted by Sedgwick; and further information is ex- 
pected from the publication of a Synoptic Catalogue, to 
which Salter gave some of his latest aid. 
Never was a man so universally welcome among the 
members, and especially the junior members of his own 
university. Wonderful was the enjoyment of a voyage to 
Ely with a happy crew of his pupils (1850). If one 
stopped at Upware, the oolite there uplifted became the 
topic of an amusing and instructive discourse ; the great 
cathedral was visited in a more serious mood ; the shores 
rang with the merriment of the returning boat; and the 
evening closed with a joyous banquet in the hospitable 
college rooms. 
Psa 
