THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE II. VOL. V. 



No. XI.— NOVEMBEK, 1878. 



ODBIOIlsTJ^Xi .i^I^TICIjIKlS. 



I. — Eminent Living Geologists. (No. 3.) 



Pkofessor John Morris, M.A. Cantab., F.G.S., etc. ; ^ 

 President of the Geologists' Association. 

 ("With a Portrait.) • 



THEEE are left to ns at the present day but a few of those 

 naturally-gifted masters in science whose career may be fitly 

 likened to that of the illustrious Faraday ; to this type of man 

 belongs Professor John Morris among geologists. Though occupying 

 a modest position in society, and possessing but few of the advantages 

 which the world offers, Professor Morris has achieved for the science 

 of his choice a vast amount of popularity and recognition; and 

 during a long career he has by his eloquence, his unassuming 

 manner, and straightforward, earnest, and warm-hearted friendship, 

 exercised a powerful influence over all with whom he has been 

 brought in contact. 



Professor Morris was born at Homerton, near London, February 

 19th, 1810. His father, Mr. John Morris, was a timber-merchant 

 in the City of London, and his son is a Freeman of the Wheelwrights 

 Company and a Freeman and Liveryman of the Turners Company, 

 and Citizen of London, of which his father also was a Citizen. His 

 early education was received at a private school at Clifton, near 

 Nuneham, Berks, and afterwards at Parson's Green, Fulham. His 

 first ideas of science were derived from some occasional lectures 

 delivered at the Clifton School, from which he imbibed an ardent 

 interest for Astronomy ; one of his earliest papers being entitled, 

 " A Few Observations on the Aurora Borealis visible at Kensington, 

 on the evening of Oct. 5, 1836 " (Mag. Nat. Hist., 1836, p. 574). 



For many years he was engaged as a Pharmaceutical Chemist in 

 Kensington, but although devoting part of his time to business, he 

 was from a very early date (as his published papers demonstrate) 

 ardently addicted to scientific pursuits, which in time engrossed all 

 his thoughts. 



So early as 1836, Mr. Morris began to collect materials for a 

 Catalogue of British Fossils. Previous to this date, the only work 

 available for the student in this country was "A Synoptical Table of 



^ "We perhaps owe an apology to our coadjutor for publishing in our pages the 

 above memoir, but he will, we doubt not, give us his indulgence when he knows that 

 our imperfect record will gratify a large circle of friends who entertain for him the 

 warmest regard. — Edit. Geol. Mag. 



DECADE II.- — VOL. V. — NO. XI. ' '31 



