Vol. 50.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 49 



Mr. Charlesworth in those days was never idle, though his some- 

 what contentious disposition, as evinced at the British Association 

 and elsewhere, not seldom involved him in disputes. When in this 

 mood he was quite as ready to attack men such as Owen and Lyell as 

 to fly at smaller game. Although at one time a prolific writer, his 

 communications to this Society were not numerous : yet it is worthy 

 of record that he contributed a note on the genus Physeter (or 

 sperm-whale) in the Bed Crag of Felixstowe to the first volume of 

 the Quarterly Journal, just half a century ago. 



In the same year, viz. in 1844, Mr. Charlesworth was appointed 

 successor to Prof. John Phillips as curator to the museum of the 

 Yorkshire Philosophical Society at York. There he continued to 

 reside for 14 years, during which time he obtained a considerable 

 insight into the Jurassic and Carboniferous fossils for which York- 

 shire is so famous. He also spread throughout the county an 

 interest in collecting, and was instrumental in keeping alive a taste 

 for geology. But, as his opinions on certain points were too ad- 

 vanced for the more orthodox inhabitants of the ancient city, he 

 found it advisable to give up his post in 1858, returning once more 

 to London. 



As a man of science, in the stricter acceptation of the term, 

 Charlesworth's career may be almost said to have terminated when 

 he threw up this appointment 36 years ago. He was still able to ' 

 utilize his unique knowledge of Crag and other Tertiary fossils, and 

 to this he added a curious interest in flints and their history ; but 

 on the whole his views may be said to have crystallized early, and 

 he took but little part in modern geological development. Prom 

 this time forth his energies were principally devoted to the buying 

 and selling of fossils. Not that he was a dealer in the ordinary 

 sense of the term, for he thoroughly understood the pakeontological 

 history of his wares, and could arrange and name a collection better 

 perhaps than any man. Not unmindful of his former connexion, 

 with the British Museum, he was ever anxious to supply that 

 establishment with the choicest things. But he generally had some 

 exquisite specimen, temptingly displayed on pink cotton wool in a 

 glass-topped box:, for his private customers, of whom Mr. Beed, of 

 York, must always be deemed the chief. 



The last 20 years of his life were greatly clouded by long and 

 severe illness, frequently confining him to his bed-room, and almost 

 entirely preventing him from doing anything in the way of searching 

 for fossils. During this interval he occasionally appeared at the 



