628 Obituary — W. Sanders, F.R.S. 



however, and that by which his name will ever be remembered, was 

 the preparation and construction of an elaborate geological map of 

 the area comprised within the Gloucestershire and Somersetshire 

 Coal-field. The scale of this map is four inches to the mile (four 

 times the scale of the Ordnance Map), and the detailed geological 

 structure of the entire area was conscientiously and -carefully worked 

 out. The labour devoted to this map by Mr. Sanders extended 

 over fifteen years, and the work occupies nineteen folio sheets geo- 

 logically coloured, and the physical details added. 



Sir Henry de la Beche and Professor Phillips in days long gone 

 by urged upon Mr. Sanders the importance of constructing a map 

 upon such a scale that the complicated structure of the Bristol Coal- 

 Field should be so clearly expressed that its mineral wealth should 

 be better understood and appreciated. It may be truly said that 

 no man single-handed ever constructed such an exact geological map 

 for any area. Associated with this map should be mentioned another 

 original and lasting labour by Mr. Sanders, viz. the measured sec- 

 tions of the extensive cuttings (delineated to scale) of the Bristol and 

 Exeter Bailway from Pyle Mill, Bristol, to Uphill on the Mendips. 

 and the line from Bristol to Bath, in both of which the smallest 

 details are laid down, whether of Physical or Palasontological value. 

 Their value remains undiminished, although done thirty-five years 

 ago. 



Few there are who can appreciate the patient labour, ability, and 

 mental culture required to carry out and complete so extended a 

 survey over so complicated a region. These labours, however, added 

 to his other acquirements, made his scientific reputation and enriched 

 his native city. 



Mr. Sanders rendered great service to Bristol in connection 

 with the water-supply through his intimate knowledge of the 

 water-bearing strata and resources in the Mendip area, and also 

 during the survey of the city with reference to its sanitary condition : 

 facts little known to those outside the world of science, and who 

 have not, like Mr. Sanders, patiently pursued a line of study and 

 research much in advance of their fellow-citizens. He was an 

 ardent student in mineralogy, and few were more accomplished in 

 crystallography. He mastered its mathematical details in the 

 elaborate treatises of Brooke and Miller, Dana, and Naumann. 



Mr. Sanders was elected a Fellow of the Boyal Society in 1864. 

 For upwards of thirty years he held the office of honorary secretary 

 to the Museum of Natural History attached to the Philosophical 

 Society and Institution of Bristol. He spared neither time, trouble, 

 nor expense to carry out its legitimate objects. Mr. Sanders' labours 

 and researches have contributed in no small degree to the develop- 

 ment of geological science, and the sheets of his large map formed 

 the basis upon which the materials accumulated by the Boyal Coal 

 Commission relative to the Gloucestershire and Somersetshire Coal- 

 fields were represented. His name will ever be associated with the 

 labours of the great and good in science, and those who knew him 

 best will most deeply mourn his loss. B. E. 



