Obituary — Sir Clement Le Nece Foster. 287 



The second son of Peter Le Neve Foster (for many years 

 Secretary of the Society of Arts), he was born at Camberwell, and 

 received his early education at Boulogne and Amiens. He then 

 studied successively at the Eoyal School of Mines and at the Mining 

 College of Freiberg, in Saxony, and eventually took the degree of 

 Doctor of Science at the University of London. 



In 1860 he was appointed an Assistant Geologist on the Geological 

 Survey, working for a few years in the Wealden area and among 

 the Carboniferous rocks of Derbyshire. Conjointly with his 

 colleague William Topley, the now classic paper " On the Super- 

 ficial Deposits of the Valley of the Medway, with remarks on the 

 Denudation of the Weald," was read before the Geological Society 

 in 1865. The authors sought to prove that old gravel of the 

 Medway occurs 300 feet above the present level of the river, and 

 that, granting this to be the case, there was no difficulty in admitting 

 that the present features of the Wealden area were sculptured by 

 i-ain and rivers. Later on Foster was part author of the Memoir 

 on the Geology of North Derbyshire (Geol. Survey, 1869). He 

 retired from the Geological Survey in 1865, not without much 

 personal regret at leaving the congenial and active field-work of 

 that institution ; he retired simply because the prospects of earning 

 a reasonable income were too remote. He now devoted his attention 

 especially to mineralogy and mining — lecturing on these subjects in 

 Cornwall, and examining several important mineral districts in 

 different parts of the world. He brought before the Geological 

 Society notes on Celestine in Egypt (with H. Bauerman), and an 

 account of the Caratal goldfield in Venezuela. In 1872 he was 

 appointed an Inspector of Mines under the Home Office, and served 

 for about eight years in the sonth-west of England. The results of 

 his observations on mines in Cornwall and Devon were brought 

 before the Geological Society and before local Societies in Cornwall. 

 In 1880 he was given charge of the North Wales district, and 

 ■resided at Llandudno until his retirement from the Home Office in 

 1901. Meanwhile, on the death of Sir Wariugton Smyth, Foster 

 was appointed in 1890 to the professorship of mining at the Koyal 

 College of Science, a post which he held until the time of his death. 

 The work of his later years is largely embodied in the Reports on 

 Mines and Quarries issued annually by the Home Office. He was 

 author also of an important treatise on " Ore and Stone Mining," of 

 which five editions have been issued, and only last year he published 

 an excellent handbook on " The Elements of Mining and Quarrying." 



His wide knowledge and the charm of his personal character 

 made him known and beloved by a large cii'cle of friends, while 

 his services on committees and as a juror were in frequent request. 

 His last important function was as a member of the present Eoyal 

 Commission on Coal supplies. He was elected a Fellow of the 

 Eoyal Society in 1893, and last year the honour of knighthood was 

 conferred upon him. 



