XXXVlll PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Robert Brown, tlie enlightened botanist, and the old officers of this 

 Society, Fitton and Murchison ; sending to them also any specimens 

 or descriptions which might, he thought, advance human know- 

 ledge. 



As Sir John Franklin united the warmest heart and kindest man- 

 ners to a solid understanding, it naturally followed that his friends 

 took an intense interest in promoting all those endeavours to rescue 

 him and his followers from their last perilous voyage, and in encou- 

 raging every effort directed to that end, whether made by the Govern- 

 ment or by the magnanimous Lady of the missing chief. The suc- 

 cessive Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society, and particularly 

 Sir R. Murchison, stimulated our rulers to make every possible re- 

 search which might lead to the timely discovery of the absent voy- 

 agers. How some one of the earliest of these efforts might have 

 succeeded, had it taken a southerly direction from Barrow's Straits, 

 is indeed now established by the melancholy announcement made by 

 Dr. Rae ; for, although the party was supplied with provisions for 

 three years only, we now know that a large remnant of the force had 

 certainly sustained life for five years. 



The late Professor Jameson was the third son of Thomas Jame- 

 son, Esq., and was born at Leith on the 1 1th July, 1 774. In his early 

 years he showed a strong desire to become acquainted with natural 

 objects, the study of which he evidently preferred to that of books 

 and letters. His first attempts were made in stuffing birds, and in 

 collecting animals and plants on the beach of Leith and its vicinity. 

 A strong desire to travel was the result of his favourite pursuits, and 

 his father ultimately yielded to his often-repeated wish to enter on the 

 profession of a mariner ; but his friends interposed, and suggested 

 that by adopting the study of medicine, he might equally be enabled 

 to study the works of nature. He yielded in his turn, and was 

 appointed assistant to the late John Cheque Esq., surgeon in Leith. 

 He commenced his study of natural history in 1 792, under Dr. Walker, 

 then Professor of Natural History in the College of Edinburgh, and soon 

 became a favourite pupil. In 1 793 he visited London, and became 

 acquainted with the principal scientific men of the metropolis, and 

 ever after spoke of the pleasure and benefit he had derived from his 

 intercourse with Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Dryander, Dr. Shaw, and 

 other leading members of the Linnsean Society. With the exception 

 of comparative anatomy, he now abandoned all idea of pursuing his 

 medical studies. His attention was directed to that of ornithology 

 and entomology, then of chemistry, and subsequently of mineralogy 

 and geology, including a thorough knowledge of analytical chemistry. 

 In 1797 Prof. Jameson paid his first visit to the island of Arran, 

 and in the following year he published his work on the ' Mineralogy 

 of the Island of Arran and the Shetland Islands, with Dissertations 

 on Peat and Kelp.' It was the first good geological account of these 

 places and formations, and soon acquired a well-merited celebrity. 

 He subsequently visited other portions of Scotland, and in 1800 

 published his ' Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles,* in two vols. 4to, 



