294 PALAEONTOLOGY. 



opinions relating to the antiquity of the globe, yet there are a descrip- 

 tion of persons very numerous and very respectable in every point but 

 their pardonable superstitions, who will dislike any mention of a specific 

 period that ascends beyond 6000 years : I would, therefore, with submis- 

 sion, qualify the expression by many thousand years, instead of centuries.'" 

 Hunter would not modify his statements, and he withdrew the paper. 



If this be the correct history of what took place in reference to 

 probably the last, and certainly most interesting, of Hunter's writings 

 — and I give it literally as I received it, and as I know Mr. Clift 

 implicitly believed it — what a striking illustration it affords of the 

 immense progress in geological science which has been achieved be- 

 tween the date of Hunter's demise (1793) and the publication of Buck- 

 land's ' Bridgewater Treatise,' 1836 ! What a cheering evidence it 

 affords of the influence of Natural Truth on the receptive mental facul- 

 ties of mankind ; and how remarkably it exemplifies the degree in which 

 John Hunter had surpassed, not merely his own age, but the elite of it, viz. 

 certain of his scientific contemporaries and fellow-labourers in the Society 

 expressly founded for the promotion of Natural Knowledge ! 



And now I can imagine the eager inquiries of my geological hearers 

 as to the fate of this traditional contribution, by the greatest physiolo- 

 gist of his time, to their favourite and fascinating science. 



With equal pleasure I can assure them that this precious manuscript 

 exists. 



After the demise of the first Sir Everard Home, it was transmitted 

 by his son, Captain Sir E. Home, R.N., to this College : the minute 

 recording its reception bears date April 2nd, 1839. 



This manuscript, entitled " On Extraneous Eossils," displays the 

 characteristic plain legible quality of the well-known handwriting of the 

 amanuensis, — pale, indeed, and faint by lapse of time, and with a boyish 

 stiffness of character due to the early period of life when Mr. Clift 

 penned it, under the dictation of his venerated master. Above all, and 

 most important as stamping its authenticity, almost every page bears 

 some correction or addition in the handwriting of John Hunter himself. 

 This manuscript, moreover, bears the unmistakeable characteristics of 

 its author's style and mode of thought. It demands for its appreciation, 

 if not its comprehension, some approach to the power of mental labour 

 and application which governed its production. The attention of its 

 readers and of my audience will not be excited, or their probable weariness 

 relieved by any graces of style or artifices of rhetoric. Pure truth, the 

 plain expression of the thoughts and conclusions to which his facts had 

 led, are here, as in all Hunter's writings, the sole aim of the author. 

 What, however, it may be asked, were the data on which Hunter — 



