276 



lized Europe, declared it perfectly unknown to all his acquaintance, 

 and he believed to all the rest of the world. 



In consequence of Mr. Smith's desire to make so valuable a disco- 

 very universally known, I, without reserve, gave a card of the English 

 strata to Baron Rosencrantz, Dr. Muller of Christiana, and many 

 others, in the year 1801. 



I am happy to hear that the Geological Society proposes to pay a 

 deserved compliment to his merits, to which I most gratefully bear 

 a willing testimony ; and am, Sir, 



Most respectfully, Yours, 



The Reverend Professor Sedgwick, B. Richardson. 



Trinity College, Cambridge*. 



Mr. Smith's views now expanded through the influence of sym- 

 pathy and the hopes of patronage (too feebly answered in the event); 

 and under the advice of the two gentlemen I have mentioned, he be- 

 gan to commit his thoughts to paper, and to designate the great sub- 

 divisions of our secondary series by names, many of which have been 

 since almost universally current, and are adopted in our Society : and 

 there now exists, in the hand-writing of Mr. Richardson, a geological 

 table of our successive formations, dictated by Mr. Smith in 1799, for 

 the express purpose of serving as the foundation of a memoir, to ac- 

 company an intended geological map of England. This very curious 

 and important document is now placed before you ; and as it was the 

 first tabular sketch of our formations, drawn up before he had, in 

 conjunction with Mr. Richardson, finally decided upon the names by 

 which they ought to be designated, you will remark, that the succes- 

 sive groups, from the coal measures to the chalk inclusive, are re- 

 presented by a series of numbers, accompanied with explanatory 

 notes, but without any proper names affixed to them. 



At a great sacrifice, and great personal expense, Mr. Smith 

 now began to extend his observations with a direct view to publi- 

 cation : and in 1801 he printed a very elaborate prospectus, of 

 which I fortunately possess a copy (now on the table of the So- 

 ciety), containing proposals for publishing, by subscription, a work 

 in 4to, entitled, " Accurate Delineations and Descriptions of the 

 Natural Order of the various Strata that are found in different parts 

 of England and Wales ; with Practical Observations thereon." The 

 tvork was to have been accompanied by " a correct map of the strata, 

 describing the general course and width of each stratum at the sur- 

 face, and accompanied by a general section, showing their proportion, 

 dip, and direction, and referring to the map by corresponding num- 

 bers and general explanations." 



The concluding paragraph of the prospectus is so remarkable, that 

 I will extract it entire : 



" To attempt a complete history of all the minutiae of strata, would 

 be an endless labour ; for along life devoted to such a pursuit, must 

 be inadequate to the purpose, considering the immense variety that is 



* The letter being addressed to me at Cambridge during my absence, was 

 only received a day or two before the Anniversary. 



