﻿Obituary — Dr. Bnjce. 383 



tion of the natural sciences comnienced ; lie quickly formed the 

 acquaintance and friendship of Dr, Wm. Smith, who at that time re- 

 sided at Scarborough, and also of Mr. William Bean and Dr. Lycett. 



For several years he was known only as a diligent collector of the 

 varied objects yielded by the coast of that part of Yorkshire, more 

 especially of the recent shells, and he never ceased to add to and 

 improve his collection of British Mollusca until, at his death, they 

 had become, with a single exception (that of Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys), 

 the finest collection of British shells known. About the same time 

 (1837) the discovery by Mr. Bean of the considerable Oolitic flora 

 in the shore-beds of Gristhorpe Bay and the publication of his 

 specimens by Lindley and Hutton in their Fossil Floi'a of Great 

 Britain, had an important influence upon the mind of so enthusiastic 

 a young man as Mr. Leckenby, and materially aided in directing his 

 attention to Geology and Palaeontology. In the pursuit of the latl er 

 science it became his especial object to acquire the finest possible 

 specimens, or, to use his own expression, " he loved to see nature 

 with clean face and hands." His fine museum of fossils was trans- 

 ferred during these later years to the Woodwardian Museum at the 

 University of Cambridge. He made several contributions to the 

 pages of this Magazine, and also to the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Geological Society of London, vols. xv. xix. and xx. 



His genial and hospitable disposition won for him a large circle 

 of friends both in Scarborough and London. The progress of the 

 fatal disease to which he succumbed was rapid, and dates only from 

 September, 1876. 



JAMES BRYCE, ESQ., M.A., LL.D., F.G.S. 



Born 1806. Died 1877. 



By a deplorable accident Science has lost a most able geolo- 

 gist through the death of Dr. James Bryce, which occurred in the 

 pass of Inverfarigaig, near Foyers, whilst on a geological excursion. 

 He had sallied forth alone, hammer in hand, to examine the rocks 

 in the pass, and whilst pursuing his researches on the top of the 

 cliff he must have inadvertently stepped upon a loose piece of rock, 

 which giving way beneath him, he was precipitated to the foot of 

 the cliff, where, three hours later, his lifeless body was found by two 

 gamekeepers. 



James Bryce, son of the Eev. James Bryce, Presbyterian minister, 

 was born at Ealleague, near Coleraine, in the north of Ireland, 

 October, 1806. The greater part of his early education he received 

 at home ; but he subsequently went to the tFniversity of Glasgow, 

 where he graduated, having specially distinguished himself in 

 Greek, and carried off, among other honours, the Blackstone prize. 

 After leaving Ccllege, he acted as mathematical master in the Belfast 

 Academy, until, in 1846, he was appointed to superintend the 

 Mathematical and Geographical Department of the High School, 

 Glasgow. There he spent the greater part of his life, diligently 

 discharging his daily duties and earnestly endeavouring to promote 

 the teaching of science in schools when that was not so popular as 



