XXXVl PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



powers, ho might easily have attained, he studied chemistry under 

 Professor Gumming, mineralogy under Dr. Clarke, laboured hard at 

 geology as an original inquirer, and became a Eellow of this Society 

 in 1819. 



In 1821, at the early age of 23, he communicated to the Society 

 his *' Supplementary Observations on Dr. Berger's Account of the Isle 

 of Man," containing a map and sections, to the preparation of which 

 he had devoted his spare time whilst spending two long vacations in 

 the island with pupils. At about the same period he was led to 

 explore the geology of Anglesey, and embodied the results in a most 

 elaborate paper, printed in the first volume of the ' Cambridge Philo- 

 sophical Transactions.' This paper raised its author at once to a 

 high position among observers, and may to this day be quoted as a 

 model of truthful and sagacious scientific research. It possesses 

 also rare merit, as combining with great power of co-ordinating 

 physical features skill and accuracy in the application of chemistry, 

 mineralogy, mathematics and drawing to the illustration of a very 

 complicated region. 



In 1822 he was appointed to the Professorship of Mineralogy, a 

 post which he held for three years, and in 1825 resigned it in order to 

 succeed Professor Martyn in the chair of Botany, a subject to which 

 he had devoted much labour for some years preceding. His lectures 

 inaugurated a new era in botanical teaching at the University, and, 

 aided by frequent excursions, awakened interest in a study to which 

 some of the mathematicians of Cambridge had hitherto hardly ac- 

 corded the dignity of a science. 



In this career, as well as in the character of a country clergyman, 

 when appointed by the Crown, in 1833, to the rectory of Hitcham 

 in Sufiblk, his admirable personal qualities endeared him to all who 

 were brought in contact with him, and enabled him successfully to 

 overcome difiiculties which would have presented serious obstacles to 

 a man endowed with less perseverance, mental power, and invari- 

 able good temper. Among the special services which he rendered to 

 the scientific world must be particularly noticed the clear and judi- 

 cious arrangement which he imparted to the Cambridge Botanical 

 Museum, to the collections in the Eoyal Gardens at Kew, and to the 

 Museum of Ipswich, which last, planned and carried out under his 

 guidance, stands out in striking contrast to so manj- of our local 

 museums as an institution in which the objects preserved have really 

 an educational and scientific value. 



The attention of Professor Ilenslow was constantly directed to 

 subjects of geological interest, and frequently to phenomena little 

 observed by others, of perhaps obscure character, but into the caus- 

 ation of which his ingenuity dclip;htcd to inquire. Of this order 

 was the peculiar disintegration of flints, and the concentric bands of 

 various colour often found in flint and other silicious pebbles. And 

 ho was equally ready in turning to practical account the results of 

 his scientific observations. Thus his acquaintance with the chemistry 

 of agriculture enabled him at once to appreciate the value to the 

 farmer of the pliosphatc-nodules which abound in the Tertiary 



