Eevieics — Life of William Pengclhj. 557 



a fortnight in making as exhaustive a collection as possible from the 

 locality, under the superintendence of Mr. Percy Kendall. The 

 accounts have not yet, however, come in, and the Committee cannot 

 therefore at present draw upon the grant generously placed at their 

 disposal by the Association, but ask that the sum granted may be 

 carried over to next year. They also ask that a similar sum may be 

 granted for that year. 



The Secretary has been in correspondence with the various 

 members of the Committee as to the best methods of forwarding the 

 objects of the Committee. From many of these he has received 

 valuable suggestions ; and it is hoped that reports will be furnished 

 at an early date from each of the members for special districts, 

 giving detailed sections of the rocks^ in their individual areas, and 

 stating what reliable information has already been collected 

 regarding their fossil contents, and what yet remains to be done ia 

 this connection. 



DB IE ^7" IIB -W" S. 



I._A Memoir of William Pengellt, of Torquay, F.R.S., 

 Geologist ; with a Selection from his Correspondence. Edited 

 by his Daughter, Hester Pengelly, with a Summary of his 

 Scientific Work, by the Ptev. Professor Bonney, F.R.S., F.G.S., 

 Honorary Canon of Manchester. 8vo ; pp. xii and 342, with 

 a Portrait and 10 plates. (London : John Murray, Albemarle 

 Street, 1897. Price 18s.) ' 



IF it be true that " there 's a divinity that shapes our ends, 

 rough-hew them how we will," it is also a trite observation 

 that the physiography and geology of a man's birthplace and early 

 home often exercise a most powerful influence upon his character 

 and career in after life. 



Take the case of Hugh Miller, born at Cromarty, with the sound 

 of the sea for ever in his ears. His father, an owner of some small 

 vessels employed in the coasting-trade, was drowned when the boy 

 was only five years old. Subsequently Hugh was apprenticed to 

 a mason. Who can doubt that the environments of the boy helped 

 to form the thoughtful, self-reliant man and the geologist? 



In like manner William Pengelly, the subject of the present 

 volume, being born at the fishing village of East Looe, in Cornwall, 

 went to sea with his father and followed for years the life of 

 a sailor-boy. Here, too, as in Hugh Miller's case, the surroundings 

 of his early days doubtless helped to impart that geological bias to 

 his thoughts, that vigour and energy to his mind and body, for 

 which he was subsequently distinguished. 



For an agreeable and instructive "Life" of this eminent man of 

 science, the well-known Torquay geologist, we are indebted to his 

 younger daughter. Miss Hester Pengelly. The adventures of his 

 hardy boyhood are of necessity autobiographical. For later years 

 his wife's letters to her mother and her invalid sister in part supply 



