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GEORGE POULETT-SCROPE, F.R.S., F.G.S/ 



Born, 10 March, 1797. Died, 19 January, 1876. 



One by one, the last few strands are being severed, whicli 

 connected the younger school of Greologists with the early 

 masters of their science, whose large and comprehensive views 

 tended so much to render Geology what it now undoubtedly 

 is, the most popular science of the day. Those who had the 

 good fortune to know Mr. Poulett Scrope personally, as a 

 scientific man, were few, but they can testify to the broadness 

 of his scientific views, as well as to the nobleness of his cha- 

 racter. Those who knew him by his published works (on 

 'Yolcanos,' etc.) were many, and none can doubt the wide 

 influence of his writings on the current of geological thought 

 to-day. 



Many of the most advanced propositions in geology may be 

 traced back in time to Mr. Poulett Scrope's earlier works. 



Thus, for example : That the foliation in metamorphic schists, 

 no less than the cleavage of the finer slate-rocks, was due to 

 the squeezing of their crystalline or semi-crystalline particles 

 while in a viscous state (' Yolcanos,' 1825).^ 



That most valleys are due to subaerial denudation ('Geology 

 and Yolcanos of Central France,' 1827 ).3 



That many deposits, hitherto referred to difi*erent geological 

 ages, may have been accumulated contemporaneously in con- 

 tiguous areas ('Yolcanos,' 1825, p. 239). 



That volcanic cones are not due to the blister-like elevation 

 of the superjacent strata, as advocated by Humboldt, von Buch, 

 and Elie de Beaumont; but to the accumulation, above the 

 fissure or vent, of ejected materials, as ashes, cinders, scoriae, 

 pumice, and other loose materials interstratified with beds of 

 lava.* 



That steam is the great dynamical agent in all volcanic 

 outbursts ; and that it also fills the interstices of all fluid lavas. 



As an old Member of Parliament from. 1833-1868 (a period 

 of thirty-five years), Mr. Scrope was personally known to many, 

 and sincerely esteemed by all his colleagues on the Liberal 

 benches. 



To the pages of this Magazine he has been a frequent con- 

 tributor up to the last. 



^ [A full notice of Mr. Poulett Scrope, with a Portrait, will be found in the 

 Geol. Mag. 1870, Vol. VII. p. 193.] See also notices in the 'Academy,' 

 ' Katm-e' and the ' Athenajum,' for 29 January, 1876. 



2 ' Geologist,' 1858, vol. i. p. 362. 



3 Geol. Mag. 1866, Vol. III. p. 193. 



* ' Volcanos,' 1825 ; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1856, p. 337- 



