Biographical Notice of Dean Conybeare. 63 
Art. XI.—Biographical Notice of Dean Conybeare and Alcide 
D Orbigny ; by Major General Porrnock, President of the 
Geological Society of London.* 
1. DEAN CoNYBEARE. 
Ir has been justly said of Dean Conybeare that he was one of 
arace of- clergymen, and those, men of intellectual eminence. 
His grandfather was Dean of Christchurch and Bishop of Bristol, 
the friend of Bishop Berkely, and the author of a work distin- 
ians, entitled, “The Defence of Revealed Religion.” The 
was his brother's office to complete and edit. That brother, the 
second son of Dr. William Conybeare, was the illustrious object 
mathematics, in which he was classed with Archbishop Whately. 
Until he took his M.A. degree, he continued to reside at the 
University, pursuing various studies, and assisting by his exer- 
tions to lay the foundation of geology, which was then only a 
rising science. At the early portion of the present century, an 
indifference, such as we can now scarcely understand, as to the 
cultivation of the natural sciences prevailed at Oxford; but, in 
the midst of the consequent general neglect, a small band of 
individuals, residents of the University, were united in the effort 
to keep alive a taste for at least one branch of natural science, 
and succeeded in enlisting others in its cause. 
The first lectures given at Oxford on Mineralogy, which was 
then asa study not accurately distinguished from Geology, were, 
it is believed, those delivered by Sir Christopher Pegge, then 
ius Professor of Medicine; and although it may not be possi- 
ble, either from written records or from the personal testimony 
* From the Anniversary Address of the President of the Geological Society of 
London, Feb, 19, 1858. Quart, Jour. Geol. pricsg ace ae = 
