IN MEMORIAM—ALEXANDER HENRY GREEN. 113 
published good books, and accumulated valuable knowledge. 
Whenever an opening offered itself he taught clearly and vigorously. 
But his students were few, and there was great discouragement. It 
is a peculiarity of our examination-ridden age that the highest 
attainments in the teacher will not attract students unless there is also 
the bribe of a place in some professionally serviceable class-list. 
Geology counted for very little in examinations, and accordingly 
Green had very few students. He was at last obliged to teach 
Mathematics as well as Geology. 
During this anxious and disappointing time, Green worked away 
bravely. He was always busy, and always managed to have on 
hand some solid piece of routine work, which helped to keep him in 
tolerable spirits. He walked much in the open air, taking care to 
visit every new geological section of interest in the West Riding. 
His contributions to scientific journals were pretty frequent, and he 
was often invited to lecture. But at times he felt that his faithful 
services had.not met with the reward that was due. 
To so busy a man the removal from Leeds to Oxford must have 
been in some degree a retirement, although the duties of his new 
office were by no means trifling. Occupying the Chair of Buckland, 
Phillips, and Prestwich, he was in the midst of ground rendered 
classic by the work of those and other geologists. Those who 
attended the meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1894, 
and took part in the excursions which Professor Green organised and 
carried out to famous localities in the neighbourhood, can judge of 
the pleasure that he would take in such surroundings, and they will 
not have forgotten the readiness to impart information and the 
genial humour which added zest to any expedition under his 
guidance. He was before all a field-geologist. To him geology was 
an open-air pursuit, and the love of this the most important side of 
the science, fostered no doubt by his life as a geological surveyor, 
never left him. In the address to which allusion has already been 
made, he advocated this practical study as a subject in the education 
of boys, a word which, he remarks, is intended to include girls also. 
Of the various official positions which Professor Green held at 
different times, we need not make detailed mention. He was well 
known at the Geological Society, and fulfilled more than one term 
of service on its Council, where his wide knowledge and sound 
judgment were highly valued. The Council awarded him the 
Murchison Medal in 1892, and he was elected a Vice-President of 
the Society two years later. He also served for a time on the 
Council of the Royal Society, of which he had become a Fellow 
In 1886, 
April 1897. i H 
