113 



with my friend Count Keyserling, and on finding in these beds many 

 true Neocoraian species, I adhered to my old opinion* ; and I now 

 put this question in the hope that it will be completely answered 

 through the labours of English geologists, and particularly of Mr. 

 Austen, who has, 1 know, commenced an inquiry into this subject, 

 and whose acquaintance with fossil shells aiid habits of held-research 

 well qualify him for such a task. 



There is yet one point connected with the researches of M. Du- 

 bois on which I beg to touch, from the admiration I entertain for 

 any one, who pursues science for its own sake, and achieves durable 

 results by his own unassisted endeavours. Occupied during ten 

 years of his life as an instructor of youth, M. Dubois had no sooner 

 realized a small independence than he resolved to enter upon this 

 arduous undertalyng. Repelled, in the first instance, by the war 

 with Turkey and by the plague, he fortunately retired upon Berlin, 

 where, passing two years in the admirable school of geologists of 

 which that capital boasts, he once more set forth on his grand en- 

 terprize, with no other recommendation than that which his good 

 name, and a short memoir on Volhynia and Podolia, had acquired 

 for him, and no other means than his own very moderate private 

 fortune. Disposed, as it has always shown itself to encourage science, 

 the Russian government was no sooner acquainted with his designs, 

 than it offered him conveyances in their ships of war, and subsequently 

 gave other encouragement. Hence M. Dubois was enabled to reach 

 parts of Circassia which would otherwise have been inaccessible ; and 

 thus he entered upon his remarkable journey. Revisiting the Crimea 

 and parts of the south and north of Russia, he returned to Berlin, after 

 an absence of four years, laden with much precious knowledge. But 

 how was he to put this before the world? Not alarmed at the prospect 

 of publications, from their descriptive nature necessarily very expen- 

 sive, M. Dubois, encouraged by M. de Buch and M. E. de Beaumont, 

 commenced the preparation of his works, of which five volumes and 

 a splendid atlas have already been issued ; and as these are to be fol- 

 lowed by other works, it is to be hoped that all the productions of 

 this spirited author will be adequately and liberally purchased by 

 the discerning portion of the public. I have the less hesitation in 

 making this appeal to my countrymen, because I really believe that 

 the high class of merit which belongs to the researches of M. Du- 

 bois is yet known to very few of them f. 



Asia Minor. — It is with great satisfaction I am now able to 

 refer you to the work of one of our own Secretaries, as having con- 



* Since this Address was read I liave received a letter from Coimt Key- 

 serling, dated Petersburgh, March 7, in which lie acquaints me, that in a mass 

 of shelly rock from Kyslavodsk in the Caucasus, which has been considered 

 Neocomian, he has detected tlie same species of Thetis, Trigoma, and 

 other fossils as those which we collected together in the Lower Greensand 

 of the Isle of Wight. — March Sl.si'. 



\ For the general geological views of M. Dubois, see his letters to 

 M E. de Beaumont, ' Bulletin de la Soc, Geol. de France,' vol. viii. p. 371 

 et seq. His researches have been justly appreciated in France. 



