392 Biographical Notice of Dr. Stanger. 
knowledge of the relative ages of rocks was hardly recognized, 
nor amongst the illustrations which accompany the early volumes 
are there any figures of organic remains. At a subsequent period 
he was appointed to the Secretaryship of the Society of Arts ; 
this circumstance is supposed to have led to his retirement from 
the office of Secretary to this Society ; but he continued for many 
years longer to serve on the Council, of which he was a member 
for the last time in 1830. One of the earliest members of the 
Society who knew him well thus writes to me of him:—‘ He 
mentioned that in early life he had been a minister of the Unita- 
rian persuasion, but resigned his cure on conscientious grounds. 
He was a corresponding member of the Academy of Dijon, &c. 
He died in London, on the 15th April, at the advanced age of 
eighty. 
Dr. Srancer, the able and energetic naturalist of the ill-fated 
Niger Expedition, was born at Wisbeach, in Cambridgeshire, in 
1812. He took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Edinburgh, 
and subsequently visited Australia. He afterwards superintended, 
under the direction of the Government, the construction of roads 
near Cape Town, then returned to England, and settling in Lon- 
don, commenced the practice of his profession. 
But the pursuit of natural history had greater charms for his 
enterprising character. In 1841 he joined the Niger Expedition 
under Captain H. Trotter, R. N., and was one of the few of that 
gallaut but unfortunate band who were not struck down by the 
devastating fever of the country. It was mainly owing to his 
energy, assisted by Dr. M‘Williams, that one of the steamers was 
brought down the river. In 1845 he was appointed Surveyor- 
