117 



§n ^iTcmoriam. 



SAMUEL ARTHUR ADAMSON, F.G.S. 



The subject of this memoir, whose early death after a brief ilhiess 

 caused surprise and grief to numbers throughout the county of York, 

 was a son of the late Joseph Adamson, Gas Engineer. At a com- 

 paratively early age he obtained an appointment under the Leeds 

 New Gas Company, and when that undertaking was acquired by 

 the Leeds Corporation, his services were retained, and he became 

 eventually chief clerk in the gas department. 



The year 1874 witnessed the institution of the Yorkshire College 

 in Leeds, — an institution which has proved of incalculable benefit to 

 the county, — and young Adamson was only too delighted to indulge 

 his geological proclivities by attending the lectures of Prof A. H. 

 Green, then attached to the College, and now Professor of Geology 

 at Oxford. He was an apt pupil, and, under such a master, quickly 

 picked up a good general knowledge of geology, and of the Coal 

 Measures and other palseozoic rocks of the West Riding in particular. 

 To the study of books he added, what is most essential, a practical 

 acquaintance with the various strata in the field ; with an observant 

 eye, an attentive ear, and note-book in hand, he never missed an 

 opportunity of accumulating fresh information during the many 

 excursions which he attended. It was mainly owing to the admirable 

 excursions organised by the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union that he 

 gathered his intimate acquaintance with the secondary rocks of the 

 East and North Ridings, under the leadership of the President of 

 the Geological Section, with whom he was on the most cordial 

 terras. 



He had a retentive memory and a facile pen, and the interesting 

 reports which he drew up, as Secretary both to the Leeds Geological 

 Association and to the (ieological Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union, were always read with pleasure, and will often be recalled 

 with regret that the hand that penned them can no longer contribute 

 to the knowledge and enjoyment of those who mourn his loss. 



Perhaps no geological publication of a similar nature was ever 

 rendered so attractive as the Transactions of the Leeds Geological 

 Association, edited by Mr. Adamson, combined with his reports of 

 field excursions. It whetted the appetite, it encouraged the timid, 

 and the result was a general increase of members, and a diffusion 

 among them of the zeal which animated their honorary secretary, so 

 that few scientific societies have in a short time attained so high 

 distinction as the Leeds Geological Association. 



April 1890. 



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