ANNXVEESAUT ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. ll 



tions of official life with a true and persevering devotion to science. 

 Born in the town of Santiago in August 1797, he studied in the 

 University of that place the mathematical sciences for two years, 

 and the natural sciences for two years more, which were barely com- 

 pleted before he had the misfortune to become obnoxious to the In- 

 quisition, and was imprisoned for fifteen months, without his ever 

 learning the reason. After applying himself for some time, under 

 his father, to architecture, he went to Madrid in 1821, and took up 

 the subjects of mineralogy, physics, and chemistry. In 1829 he 

 received an appointment under the Government, in connexion with 

 which he visited and studied the mining- districts of Almaden, Li- 

 nares, Adra, Hio Tinto, and Marbella ; and for several years he filled 

 the post of superintendent of the royal mines of Almaden and of 

 Rio Tinto with a zeal and energy which excited the admiration of 

 his contemporaries, and enabled him at the same time to contribute 

 valuable geological intelligence with respect to the ancient forma- 

 tions in which these remarkable repositories of ore occur. 



In 1849 De Prado was appointed to the commission for carrying 

 out a geological survey of Spain, and during many years he laboured 

 hard at the production of several geological maps and descriptive 

 memoirs, among which may be cited especially the map and " phy- 

 sical and geological description " of the province of Madrid, and 

 also those of the Provinces of Segovia, Yalladolid, and Palencia. 

 The maps and notices of Zamora, Salamanca, and Leon he did not 

 live to complete. Sundry other memoirs had proceeded from his 

 pen, which were notable amid the general dearth of such writings 

 in the Peninsula: — a ' Yindication of Geology,' published in 1835 ; a 



* Discourse ' on the temperatures through which the earth has passed 

 in the succession of geological periods ; papers on Almaden and a 

 part of the Sierra Morena, and on the existence of the Primordial 

 fauna in the Cantabrian chain, several of which appeared in the 



* Bulletin ' of the Geological Society of Prance. For some years 

 prior to his death he had also been the director in editing the 



* Revista Minora,' a periodical of a scientific and industrial character, 

 which has done much to relieve the literary blank which formerly 

 existed on the subject of the mineral treasures of Spain, 



Don Casiauo had for a long time been desirous of making a study 

 of the Canary Islands. The near approach of the great International 

 Exhibition of Paris roused in him a high degree of enthusiasm, and 

 determined him to prepare a report on the old Hesperides. He 

 laboured anxiously to arrange, as Inspector -General of Mines, that 

 all his officials should duly contribute to make Spain assume the 

 position to which he thought she was entitled, and, having issued 

 his orders and laid his plans, left home in the spring of the year 

 for the islands, which formed a part of his official district. It is 

 said that he was too late in the season for arduous work, and that 

 he was too unsparing of himself during his excursions. No sooner 

 was he returned, about midsummer, to Madrid, than he was seized 

 by an illness, which carried him off in a few hours. 



The value to his countrymen of an industrious, single-hearted 



d2 



