658 JOSEPH PRESTWICH. 



The brief introduction to geological science which Dr. Turner had 

 given was destined to bear the most excellent fruit. Prestwich was 

 thus led to examine the collections of fossils in the British Museum; 

 and the works of Conybeare and Phillips, of De la Beche and Lyell, 

 became his text-books. 



Entering the field of geology, as he tells us, for relaxation from the 

 cares of commercial life, he had in his early years only such time as 

 could be snatched from business at intervals, and chiefly on Saturdays 

 and Sundays. Fortunately his duties led him into various parts of the 

 country, and every opportunity was taken of making acquaintance 

 with the physical features and structure of the districts he visited. It 

 is, however, wonderful to find how much he achieved, how early he had 

 mastered the principles of geology, and how sound were his interpre- 

 tations of facts. 



His holidays during the years 1831 to 1833 were for the most part 

 spent in the region of Ooalbrook Dale, and the results of his researches 

 were communicated to the Geological Society of London in 1834 and 

 1836. This work was published in full in the Transactions of the 

 society, and looking at it now it may be regarded as a model of what a 

 memoir should be on such a subject as the coal field and its associated 

 strata. The Silurian and Carboniferous rocks, the new red sandstone, 

 the igneous rocks, and the drifts were all duly described, and what is 

 more remarkable, considering the youth of the author, the superficial 

 extent of the various rocks was shown on a map of the scale of one 

 inch to a mile in a manner differing in no very important particulars 

 from the subsequently published map of the Geological Survey. The 

 structure of the area and its faults were carefully depicted, while the 

 organic remains which Prestwich had obtained were described with 

 the aid of his friend, John Morris. So highly, indeed, would we speak 

 of this work that had the author done nothing subsequently we believe 

 it would have entitled him to a permanent place on the roll of those 

 geologists who have rendered distinguished service. 



In 1835 another paper was read by Prestwich before the Geological 

 Society on the ichthyolites of Gamrie in Banffshire, and this was his 

 first published work. In 1837 he supplemented it with observations on 

 the drift deposits, including those of Blackpots, and he noted the 

 existence of a raised beach. 



These early studies give a good idea of the bent of his mind, his 

 attention being given to strati graphical geology and to the physical 

 conditions uiader which strata were accumulated. In later years he 

 turned again to the coal measures in other regions, especially in 

 Somerset, and to their possible underground range in the southeastern 

 counties, while the subjects of drifts and raised beaches gained even- 

 tually more and more of his attention. 



Prestwich was elected a fellow of the Geological Society in 1833, 

 when Greenough was president ; and he first became a member of coun- 



