April zo, 1874J 



NATURE 



511 



gives an insight into the way in which he gained his inti- 

 mate Ijnowledge of the strata of the country. " The 

 whole of the remainder of 1S21 was devoted to long and 

 laborious wanderings. Two lines of operation were drawn 

 through the country which requircil tobe surveyed. On one 

 of these Mr. Smith moved with the due deliberation of a 

 commander-in-chief; the other was traversed by his more 

 active subaltern, who afterwards found the means to cross 

 from his own parallel to report progress at head-quarters." 

 In this way 2,000 miles were traversed in six months, and 

 he thus learned to rely on his own judgment. His work 

 delighted him. "Innumerable rambles," he says, "led 

 up every glen and across every hill, now sketching water- 

 falls, anon tracing the boundaries of rocks or marking the 

 direction of diluvial detritus." As greater accuracy in 

 tracing the boundary of difterent strata was thus acquired, 

 the successive issues of the map of England were modified. 

 The lines of these alterations were mostly traced by Mr. 

 Phillips himself, and thus it was that differences appeared 

 in maps which apparently belonged to the same " edition." 

 At length, in 1824, i\Ir. Smith was asked to deliver a 

 course of lectures on his geological work at the newly- 

 formed Yorkshire Philosophical Society. For this " new 

 maps were coloured, new sections drawn, and even the 

 distant cabinet of Mr. Richardson at Farley was laid 

 under contribution, to supply illustrations for these dis- 

 courses." Lectures at Hull, Scarborough, and Sheffield 

 soon followed. The share that Mr. Phillips took in the 

 preparation of these lectures brought him under the notice 

 of the executive of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society ; 

 he was offered the curatorship of the new museum, and 

 accepted it. This was one of the important events of his 

 life. His work no longer came before the public in his 

 uncle's name, he had an individuality of his own, "and com- 

 menced to make his own reputation." I was delighted to 

 find in the prosecution of this duty innumerable proofs of 

 the truth of Mr. Smith's views respecting the distribution 

 of organic fossils, and saw very clearly that many of the 

 strata in the north-eastern part of Yorkshire might be 

 confidently identified with well-known formations in the 

 south of England. Soon after (in 1S26) he read before 

 the Society the first paper he wrote. His subject was : 

 The Direction of the Diluvial Currents of Yorkshire, and 

 it was thought worthy of being reprinted in the " Philoso- 

 phical Magazine." From this time his pen was ever 

 active. His early geological papers were on Yorkshire, 

 and with that county his name is indissolubly connected. 

 In addition to the curatorship of the museum he was ap- 

 pointed one of the secretaries of the Society, and delivered 

 courses of lectures, and in 1S29 he published his illustra- 

 tions of the Geology of Yorkshire.' 



It was not till 1834 that Mr. Phillips communicated a 

 paper to the Geological Society, and in the same year he 

 published his "GuidetoGeology," was appointed Professor 

 of Geology in King's College, London, and was elected 

 a Fellow of the Royal Society. His recommendature to 

 election into the Society is of sufficient interest to be 

 printed, and is as follows : — 



"John Phillips, Esq., of York, Fellow of the Geologi- 

 cal Society of London and Secretary of the Yorkshire 

 Philosophical Society, a gentleman well versed in geology, 

 meteorology, and various branches of natural science, and 

 author of " Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire," 

 being desirous of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 we whose names are hereunto subscribed do, from our 

 personr.l knowledge, recommend him, as highly deserving 

 of the honour he soHcits, and likely to prove a valuable 

 and useful member. 



" Rod. 1. Murchison, \Vm. Buckland, G. B. Gresnough, 

 William Clift, Edw. Turner, Adam Sedgwick, John 

 Taylor, H. T. De la Beche, C. Daubeny, John 

 Edw. Gray, Geo. Peacock, John Lindley, B. 

 Powell. 

 "Elected April 10, 1834." 



Not only was he associated in work with the " father" 

 of Geological Science, from which such valuable practical 

 I results have flowed, but he was one of the band who, in 

 ; his own words, " stood anxious but hopeful by the cradle 

 of the British Association." It is well known how through 

 I his activity the first meeting at York was a success in 

 ! September 1S31, and how till 1863 he was the courteous 



assistant-secretary of the Society. 

 I Among other posts Prof. Phillips has filled are the 

 Chair of Geology at Dublin, to which he was appointed 

 in 1844; the Presidency of the Geological Society in 

 1859-60 ; Rede Lecturer in Cambridge in i860 ; and the 

 Presidency of the British Association in 1866. The Chair 

 at Oxford he has held since 1853. 



He not only helped to lay the foundations of English 

 Geology, he has been to the last an active worker and an 

 industrious writer. Besides more than sixty papers com- 

 municated to Societies' proceedings and to magazines, he 

 was largely a contributor to the " Penny Encyclopedia," 

 the " Encyclopedia Britannica," and the " Encyclopajdia 

 Metropolitana." 



In 1841 was published his " Pateozoic Fossils of Corn- 

 wall, Devon, and West Somerset, after he had examined 

 the country in company with Mr. William Sandars. 



In 1842 he began an examination of the Malvern dis- 

 trict, and having settled his data at Malvern, Abberley, 

 and Woolhope, he extended his observations to May Hill, 

 Fortworth, and Usk. The work was given to the world 

 in 184S as one of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey. 

 "The Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-coast of Yorkshire" 

 appeared in 1853, and his Essay in the" Oxford Essays," 

 in 1855. 



His contribution to the Palasontographical Society on 

 the Belemnitidje, and his "Geology of the Thames Valley," 

 are well known ; and he has also written many smaller 

 works which we have not space to notice. 



For many years he has been Keeper of the Museum 

 at Oxford, and his lectures have had such a reputation 

 for being popular that they have been largely attended 

 by ladies. The Professor had also given much time to 

 meteorology and astronomy, and had made many obser- 

 vations m his own observatory. He was an honorary 

 M.A. and D.C.L. of Oxford, and LL.D. of Cambridge 

 and Dublin. 



NOTES 



Dr. Lyon Playfair, C.B., has given notice that, on the 

 House of Commons going into committee on the Education 

 Estimates, he will call attention to the deficient ministerial re- 

 sponsibility under which the Votes for Education, Science, and 

 Art are administered, and will move for a Select Committee to 

 consider how such ministerial responsibility may be better 

 secured. We believe that Dr. Lyon Playfair's views are strictly 

 in accordance with those of the best scientific men of the country, 

 namely, that the only satisfactory way of dealing with the sub- 

 ject will be by the appointment of a Minister for Education, 

 Science, and Art. 



The 15th or l6th of June has been fixed for the inauguration 

 of the physical laboratory, tlie gift of the Duke of Devonshire 

 to the University of Cambridge. 



The following is a list of candidates selected and recom- 

 mended by the Council of the Royal Society for election as 

 Fellows :— Isaac Lothian Bell, F.C.S. ; W. T. Blanford, 

 F. G.S. ; Henry Bowman Brady, F.L. S. ; Dr. Thomas Lauder 

 Brunton, Sc.D. ; Prof. W. Kingdon Clifford, M.A. ; Augustus 

 WoUaston Franks, MA. ; Prof. Glaus Henrici, Ph.D. ; Pres- 

 cott G. Hewett, F.K.C.S. ; John Eliot Howard, F.L.S. ; Sir 

 Henry Sumner Maine, LL.D.; Edmund James Mills, D.Sc. ; 

 Rev. Stephen Joseph Perry, F.R.A.S.; Dr. Henry Wyldbore 

 Rumsey ; Alfred R. C. Selwyn, F.G.S. ; Major Charles WiUiam 

 Wilson, R.E. 



