THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE 



NEW SERIES. DECADE VI. 



No. V.— MAY, 1915. 



OttTG-TJSr^H, ARTIC 



I. — Eminent Living Geologists. 



Aubrey Strahan, M.A., Sc.D. (Camb.), F.R.S., Hon. LL.D. Toronto, 

 V.P.G.S. ; Director of the Museum of Practical Geology and 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain. 



(WITH A POETEAIT, PLATE VII.) 



11HE records of the Geological Survey of Great Britain date back 

 nearly as far as the first public recognition of geology as 

 a science in this country. 



Topographical map-making by the Ordnance Survey commenced 

 in 1784, but it was not until about 1830, when the Director 

 of Ordnance happened to see the excellent maps of the mining 

 districts of Cornwall, the unaided work of De la Beche, that he 

 wisely determined that the mineral delineation should be carried out 

 upon the Ordnance Maps, a task which he induced De la Beche to 

 undertake. Thus initiated, under the support of Major- General T. F. 

 Colby, the Director of Ordnance, the Geological Survey commenced 

 its career in Devon and Cornwall long before it had a local habitation 

 and hardly a name. But through the influence of Government in 

 1837, Sir Henry De la Beche obtained a house in Craig's Court, 

 Charing Cross, which became "The Museum of Economic Geology", 

 and " The Mining Record Office" later on. 



With but few assistants (until 1840) De la Beche traversed many 

 thousand miles, hammer in hand, producing maps which have been the 

 admiration of all who have had occasion to consult them, and thus laid 

 the foundation of tbe Geological Survey of the United Kingdom and of 

 the Museum of Practical Geology, which was opened in Jermyn Street 

 by the Prince Consort in 1851. Although now shorn of its School of 

 Mines and of its Irish Branch, this building is still the Museum 

 of Practical Geology and the headquarters of the Geological Survey of 

 Great Britain. 



For nearly a century (1830-1915), from the date of its genesis 

 under Sir Henry De la Beche, the Geological Survey has enjoyed 

 the unrivalled advantage of a succession of -distinguished scientific 

 Directors, all of whom were experienced practical geologists, who 

 had made their mark in the field as well as in the laboratory before 

 l'eaching the chieftainship of the Royal hammerers. 



Sir Henry De la Beche, the founder of the Survey, who passed 

 away in 1855, was followed by Sir Roderick I. Murchison, whose 

 name was already widely known, having been elected twice as 

 decade vi. — VOL. II.— no. v. 13 



