LIKNKAN SOCIEXr OP LONDON. 



high temperature and a real antecedent to the earthquake move- 

 ments and accompanying phenomena. In late years, however, 

 Dr. Daubeny accepted as at least very probable the high interior 

 temperature of the earth, and its agency in certain cases, as of 

 hot springs &c. 



In 1822, Dr. Daubeny had succeeded Dr. Kidd as Aldrichiau 

 Professor of Chemistry at Oxford ; and his position afforded him 

 great advantages in all his investigations which related to the 

 principal subject of his thoughts. The analysis of mineral waters 

 was a constant object of earnest attention, and was carried out by 

 him on a very extensive scale, and wherever he might be. In fact, 

 so far did he carry his zeal in the inquiry, that " by his busy scru- 

 tiny of waters in France and Italy, ^e provoked the suspicious 

 credulity of the natives (who thought he was poisoning their 

 springs), and thus endangered his personal safety." 



In 1834, Dr. Daubeny, who had fully qualified himself for the 

 post by a systematic course of study under Decandolle at Geneva, 

 was appointed Professor of Botany, and took up his abode in the 

 " Physic Garden," so famous for the eminent men who had pre- 

 ceded him in the Chair. 



"Under his diligent and generous management, with liberal 

 aid from the University, Dr. Daubeny lived to see the old Garden 

 entirely rearranged, enriched with extensive houses, extended in 

 area, and made both attractive and beautiful." 



In this pleasant residence he passed the remainder of his life, 

 incessantly active, not only in the discharge of his Professorial 

 duties, but also continually engaged in experimental research of 

 one kind or another. Among the various subjects investigated 

 by him may be mentioned : — vegetation under different conditions 

 of soil &c. ; the effect of light on plants ; the vitality of seeds, a 

 subject to which he paid very considerable attention for many 

 years, during which he was an active member of a committee ap- 

 pointed to inquire into it by the British Association, and to which 

 committee he acted as reporter. He also instituted researches 

 respecting ozone in the atmosphere, and on the effect of varied 

 proportions of carbonic acid on plants analogous to those of the 

 Coal-measures &c. But with all this he appears never to have 

 lost sight of the important subject of mineral and thermal waters ; 

 and in 1830 a paper of his was published in the ' Philosophical 

 Transactions ' on the presence of iodine and bromine, and a Ee- 



