Reviews — Prof. Williamson, the Yorkshire Naturalist. 523 



The question was, bow could the necessary funds be raised. He 

 had prepared a series of six lectures on Geology with appropriate 

 diagrams and specimens; with these he visited the chief towns of 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire, and thus earned sufficient to cover his 

 fees at the medical school in Manchester, and to pay for his board 

 and pocket-money. In September, 1840, he set out for London, 

 and entered as a student at University College. In 1841, 

 his examination passed, we find young Williamson a full-fledged 

 practitioner, with a brass-plate on the door of his house, at the coiner 

 of Wilton Street and Oxford Road, Manchester. 



It was a hard, uphill climb for the young surgeon ; indeed, at first 

 it seemed to be a case of "factUs descensus Averni" ; an old medical 

 friend remarking sagely to the young one : " You will have for 

 some time to go much oftener down steps than up steps. Never 

 mind ! win the good opinion of washerwomen and such like, and 

 in time you will hear of their recommendations of you to the 

 wealthier families by whom they are employed." "I followed his 

 advice," says Williamson, "and found it succeeded as predicted." 



But one may well ask, where does the title of a "Yorkshire 

 Naturalist " come in '? To understand this, it is necessary to read 

 the book. The fact is, he had only been apprenticed to Mr. Weddell 

 in Scarborough two years when he began to publish his observations 

 as a naturalist in the " Magazine of Natural History," the first paper 

 being "On a Rare British Species of Mytilus" and the second "On 

 the Distribution of Organic Remains in the Lias Series of 

 Yorkshire," etc. (Proc. Geol. .Soc, vol. ii, 1833-8). Then, a 

 "Description of a Tumulus opened at Gristhorpe," 1834, followed 

 by " Illustrations and Descriptions for the Fossil Flora of Great 

 Britain," by Lindley and Hutton, 1835, whom he assisted 

 with notes and drawings. Also on the " Distribution of Organic 

 Remains in the Oolite of Yorkshire," 1836. These papers, com- 

 menced at the age of 18, and continued with greater knowledge 

 in later years, only ended in 1895, the year of his death, when 

 they numbered 145, including nineteen important memoirs on the 

 structure of fossil plants read before the Royal Society of London 

 and published in the Philosophical Transactions, 1870-93. The 

 fact of his having held the Chair of Professor of Botany in the 

 Owens College, Manchester, for forty-one years, speaks volumes for 

 his indomitable energy and ability ; and when one considers that 

 he carried on an extensive private medical practice in Manchester 

 at the same time, one is the more impressed by his power of work. 

 That he should have found time in the midst of all his other 

 labours to cut, grind down, mount, and prepare a large proportion 

 of the sections of fossil plants from the Coal-measures which lie 

 described in his numerous papers, seems almost incredible ; but his 

 whole life was occupied with his pursuits, and he had no idle time, 

 and certainly during his long life he never wasted any. 



Besides the narrative of actual work performed by Professor 

 Williamson — which, as a public lecturer alone, would have satisfied 

 the craving for occupation of any ordinary strong man ! — wo have 



