118 LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK, BY BE. E3OLET0N. 



to which all things exist, which it belongs rather to the do- 

 main of science to ascertain and unfold, than to impress upon 

 mankind the deeply important truth, that the worlds were formed 

 by the word of God, and that things which are seen were not 

 made of things which do appear. 



VIII. — Memoir of the Life of Albany Hancock, F.Z.8., etc. By 

 D. Embleton, M.D. 



In acceding to the desire of some of his friends, that I should 

 write an account of the life of Albany Hancock, I have done 

 so with much reluctance, conscious of my unfitness for the office 

 of biographer ; but encouraged by the reflection that I had en- 

 joyed his friendship for about thirty years, and been for a 

 time a sharer in his labours, and therefore in a position to form 

 some estimate of his character and abilities, I have attempted the 

 following memoir. Having also previously communicated to the 

 " Natural History Transactions of Northumberland and Dur- 

 ham" (Yol. I., 1867) a notice of the life of the late Joshua Alder, 

 I felt honoured by the request to pay a similar tribute to the 

 memory of our mutual friend, with whom I had been more inti- 

 mately associated. 



Joshua Alder died in January, 1867, at the age of seventy- 

 four years; Albany Hancock in October, 1873, at the age of 

 sixty-seven years. 



The linked names of Alder and Hancock, friends and fellow- 

 workers for many years, will long be esteemed as those of good 

 and true men, who, from a pure and unselfish love of science, 

 have done much towards enlarging the boundaries of Natural 

 History, and have shed a lustre on the town in which they were 

 born and spent their lives. Both were self-taught men in their 

 departments of scientific work, and have shown what talent and 

 perseverance can effect even without the aid of academic training. 

 The same may be said in the case of many others of our distin- 

 guished men of the North of England. 



