627 



was come when the chemist could not hope to follow out the fortunes 

 of his science, and to read in her discoveries their full meaning, with- 

 out being acquainted with the language, and master of the resources 

 of mathematics. Acting upon this enlightened view, he did not 

 hesitate to encounter the great labour and exertion of a course of 

 study in the higher mathematics; and he succeeded entirely in making 

 himself a good mathematician. And he was one of the very few who, in 

 our country, labour at a branch of chemistry which is of the highest 

 importance to us as geologists ; but which, — we may suppose from its 

 laborious and intricate nature, — appears to repel our most active che- 

 mists ; I mean that portion of chemistry which is connected with 

 mineralogy. 



Yet this department is, in truth, more inviting than it may at first 

 appear. No doubt in it clear mathematical conceptions are necessary, 

 and perhaps some little training in mathematics ; but there is good 

 promise that the labour which this line of investigation demands 

 will be rewarded. I am fully persuaded that there is no portion of 

 the frontier line of our knowledge of which we can so certainly say„ 

 " Here we are on the brink of great discoveries." Had Dr. Turner 

 been spared to us some years longer, I know no one who was more 

 likely to have had a principal share in such discoveries. Two papers 

 of his, in the Philosophical Transactions,* show that he was able to 

 deal with the atomic theory in a mode which combines the resources 

 of {he skilful analytical chemist with the rigour of the mathematical 

 reasoner ; a combination which the right prosecution of that theory 

 requires, but which has not always been found in its cultivators. 



Dr. Turner lectured on chemistry at the London University from 

 its first foundation in 1828; he was there surrounded by students, 

 whose affection he gained by his kindness, as well as their admi- 

 ration by the clearness of his teaching. He also gave a course of 

 lectures on geology, in conjunction with Dr. Grant and Mr. lindley, 

 such of those gentlemen taking a division of the subject with which 

 he was most familiar. Dr. Turner was snatched from science at the 

 early age of thirty-nine, having been born in the island of Jamaica 

 in 1796. He studied anatomy at Edinburgh, and chemistry at Got- 



* On the Composition of Chloride of Barium, 1829 ; Researches on Atomic 

 Weights, 1833. 



