115 



means. The adaptation of measurement by reflection to Crystal- 

 lography, by Dr. Wollaston's Goniometer, has introduced into that 

 department of science a degree of certainty and precision, which, 

 without its aid, are wholly unattainable, — and not even to be ap- 

 proached, but by the most dexterous and practised observers. His 

 own success also, in the use of this beautiful instrument, was re- 

 markable ; and his Paper on the distinctions of the Carbonates of 

 Lime, Magnesia, and Iron, is one of the most striking instances 

 that can be mentioned, of the advantage arising from the union of 

 crystallography with chemical research. He was in fact a Mine- 

 ralogist of the first order, — if the power of deciding accurately on 

 the characters and composition of minerals, by the combination of 

 physical and chemical inquiry, be considered as the standard of 

 skill. 



Possessing such variety of knowledge, with the most inventive 

 quickness and sagacity in its application to new purposes, Dr. Wol- 

 laston was at all times accessible, with unaffected facility, to those 

 whom he believed to be sincerely occupied in useful inquiry : he 

 seemed indeed himself to delight in such communications; and his 

 singular dexterity and neatness in experiment rendered compara- 

 tively easy to him the multiplied investigations arising from them, 

 which to others might have been oppressive or impracticable. His 

 penetration and correct judgement upon subjects apparently the 

 most remote from his own immediate pursuits, made him during 

 many of the latter years of his life the universal arbiter on questions 

 of scientific difficulty ; so that his house became the common centre 

 of resort to all who cultivated the Physical Sciences in England; and 

 the instruction derived from such frank and easy communication with 

 a man of his attainments, has had an effect on the progress of know- 

 ledge in this country, and on the conduct of various public un- 

 dertakings, — the value of which, it would be difficult to estimate, — 

 and the loss of which it is at present, and long will be, quite impos- 

 sible to supply. 



These, Gentlemen, are some of the grounds upon which the 

 memory of Dr. Wollaston claims our gratitude and veneration, as 

 cultivators of natural science: but to those who have known 

 him in private life, he has left, what is still more precious, the ex- 

 ample of his personal character. Few men can be named who more 

 happily combined the qualities of a genuine English gentleman and 

 philosopher; or whose whole life better deserves the praise which 

 the first of our orators has given, as the highest eulogium, to one of 

 our most distinguished public characters; for it was marked through- 

 out by a Constant wish and endeavour to be " useful to mankind*." 



In adverting to the progress which Geological research has made 

 during the past year in this country, I shall follow the descending 

 order of the strata in our series ; and I may refer to the Tabular 

 View of our Stratification, of which Mr. De la Beche has recently 



* Fox's speech on the death of the Duke of Bedford, 1802. 



