lx PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [May 1906, 



and distant ; but those who really knew him were aware that this 

 was not the case, and there are many who, like the present writer, 

 have lost by his death one of their best friends. Above all, Blanford 

 was, in word and deed, a true gentleman. [R. L.] 



By a remarkable coincidence Henry Benedict Medlicott, M.A., 

 E.R.S., who joined the Geological Survey fifteen months earlier 

 than Blanford, passed away two months earlier than his colleague, 

 with whom he was so long and so intimately associated in official 

 work. Born at Loughrea, County Galway (Ireland), on August 3rd, 

 1829, he was the second son of the Rev. Samuel Medlicott and 

 Charlotte Medlicott, the former of whom was Rector of Loughrea. 

 He was educated at first in France and Guernsey, and finally at 

 Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained his B.A. degree in 1850, 

 with honours, in the School of Civil Engineering, although he did 

 not take his M.A. till 1870. 



In 1851 Medlicott was appointed to the Geological Survey of 

 Ireland, but two years later he was transferred to the English 

 Survey, and in March 1854 was engaged by Dr. T. Oldham as a 

 member of the staff of the Indian Geological Survey. Before, 

 however, he entered on the field-work of the Survey he was 

 gazetted Professor of Geology in the Indian Engineering College at 

 Rurki ; but he was still allowed, by special arrangement, to do 

 field-work for the Survey during the cold weather. Accordingly 

 he acted as an extra member of the Survey staff during part of 

 each year from 1854 to 1862, in which latter year he was de- 

 finitely reinstated in his old appointment, with the rank of Deputy- 

 Superintendent for the Bengal Presidency. During his temporary 

 attachments to the Survey, Medlicott examined and classified the 

 rocks of part of the Narbada Valley and Bundelkund, and sub- 

 sequently those of the Outer Himalaya, where he established the 

 distinction between the typical Siwaliks and the Manchars. In 

 1857 he served as a volunteer with the Rurki garrison against the 

 Sepoy mutineers, when he gained the Mutiny Medal, after per- 

 forming an act of gallantry almost unequalled and never surpassed. 



After much excellent field-work in various parts of the vast 

 Province under his geological charge, and having twice acted as 

 Superintendent during Dr. Oldham's absence on furlough, Medlicott 

 was appointed to the Superintendentship of the Survey, as being the 

 senior officer, on the retirement of Dr. Oldham on April 1st, 1876 ; 

 the title of the post being changed to Director in 1885. 



