52 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 



to visit mines and to see for himself how the various ores occur in 

 nature. His sojourn in Germany and Austria gave him the oppor- 

 tunity of making the acquaintance of such men as Humboldt, Von 

 Buch, Von Dechen, Naumann, Haidinger, and Von Hauer. At one 

 time he is found attending lectures on Mineralogy ; at another time 

 he is to be seen exploring coal-fields or descending silver-mines, or 

 pushing his way through salt-works, or ransacking bone-caves. 

 Again we hear of him among the rugged sunburnt rocks of Monte 

 Cristo or encamped with Waltershausen near the summit-snows of 

 Etna. A winter on the Nile is followed by a more adventurous 

 ramble through Palestine and jSTorthern Syria to Aleppo and the 

 Upper Tigris. This prolonged absence abroad not only gave him a 

 wide experience of practical mining-matters, but afforded him 

 opportunities of cultivating that familiarity with foreign habits and 

 foreign languages which made him in the end an ideal Poreign 

 Secretary for a Geological Society. 



Returning to this country in 1844 he made the acquaintance of 

 De la Beche, Director-General of the Geological Survey, who, with 

 his intuitive perception of the merits of a good man for his purpose, 

 soon engaged him as Mining-geologist on the staff of the Survey. 

 In that capacity Smyth made explorations in England and Wales and 

 in Ireland, besides mapping some districts with his own hand. 

 AVhen a few years later (1851) the School of Mines was organized, 

 he was appointed Lecturer on Mining and Mineralogy, and he con- 

 tinued to give his mining lectures down to the very end. His wide 

 knowledge of all that relates to the extraction of minerals from the 

 crust of the earth led to his being called on to undertake many ad- 

 ditional duties. He was appointed Chief Mineral Inspector to the 

 Ofiice of Woods and Porests, and also Mineral Inspector to the 

 Duchy of Cornwall. Besides acting as adviser to the Crown in aU 

 mining questions, he was often requested to give his services on 

 Committees and Commissions. He was appointed Chairman of the 

 Eoyal Commission which, in 1879, was formed to enquire into the 

 subject of accidents in mines, and he had the main share in drawing 

 up the voluminous Eeport of the seven years of enquiry spent in 

 this laborious and important investigation. It was more especially 

 in recognition of this service that he received the honour of knight- 

 hood in 1887. 



All through life one of the busiest of men, he yet had the happy 

 art, by quietly keeping his toils in the background, to seem to be 

 possessed of ample leisure ready to be placed at the service of any 



