XXXVm PEOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



turmoil of commerce, he became a graduate of Trinity College, 

 DubUn. 



He was one of the eight original founders of the jS"atural History 

 and Philosophical Society of Belfast, established in 1821 ; he took an 

 active part in promoting the erection of their museum in 1830, and 

 fiUed the office of President of that Society at the time of his death. 

 He was also one of the founders of the Botanic Garden at Belfast. 

 He took a warm and active interest in the various educational and 

 scientific institutions of his native town, and his time and advice 

 were ever at the service of the young who were entering on their 

 studies and stood in need of the encouragement and assistance of 

 their seniors. In this and various other ways, he exerted great local 

 influence for the promotion of physical science, and especially of 

 geology, his own favourite pursuit. 



Por a long period, the intervals of relaxation from business were 

 steadily devoted by Mr. Mac Adam to the investigation of the geo-r 

 logical structure of the north of Ireland ; the results being occasionally 

 made known through the Geological Society of Dubhn, the volumes 

 of whose * Transactions ' bear testimony to hi.s industry and ability as 

 a geologist. The most important of his papers published there is 

 one upon the structure of a very interesting district in the county of 

 Donegal. But the service rendered to our science by his papers is 

 perhaps less important than one which he was not spared to complete. 

 By personal exertion continued through upwards of twenty years, 

 and by expending considerable sums of money in employing intelligent 

 collectors, he had succeeded in bringing together a vast assemblage 

 of fossils from the Upper Secondary Rocks of Ireland ; and in the 

 arranging and naming of these he was stiU actively engaged at the 

 time of his last illness. This collection is believed to contain many 

 rare and not a few new species. It was intended to be employed 

 in illustrating a memoir on the north-east of Ireland, to be contri- 

 buted to our Society under the joint authorship of himseK and 

 Dr. Bryce of Glasgow, formerly of Belfast. A paper by the latter 

 gentleman, on a portion of the Antrim coast, has already appeared 

 in our * Transactions ;' and we may hope that he will in a short time 

 carry out the plan arranged between him and his departed friend, 

 and thus, while completing the survey of that coast, make known 

 the riches of this fine collection of fossils, and the various important 

 observations, hitherto unpublished, which have been made by our 

 late associate. 



Eaton Hodgkinson, P.E.S., Professor of the Mechanics of Engi- 

 neering in the University College, London, was born at Anderton, 

 near Northwich in Cheshire, on the 26th Eebruary, 1789, and 

 died at Eaglesfield House, Manchester, on the 18th June, 1861. He 

 lost his father in childhood, and was sent to the grammar-school 

 at Northwich. He was originally intended for the church ; but his 

 mother's circumstances having compelled him to renounce this pro- 

 ject and enter into trade, he went to reside in Manchester. During 

 his residence in that city for nearly half a century, he devoted his 



