/;/ Mernoriam — Robert Lazv 



One day, he happened to hear a friend read an article on 

 ' Dr. Buckiand and his method of stud^dng geology, and an 

 account of the doctor's travels on horseback from quarry to 

 quarry in search of fossils.' A friend borrowed an elementary 

 and popular work for him from a neighbouring hbrary, and over 

 this he pondered, trying hard to understand its mysterious 

 phraseology. The result was a settled and firm idea that he 

 would devote all his spare energies to this fascinating branch 

 of study. 



His first step was to inspect the neglected fossils on his 

 rockery, and his next one to traverse the district in every direc- 

 tion, and in every spare moment to study the rocks personally 

 in the field. 



At the evening science classes he learned the rudiments of 

 Chemistry, and of some other natural sciences, but geology 

 was ever his favourite stud}', and so enthusiastic and thorough 

 were his labours, that he was at last selected for a course of 

 study at South Ken'^ington. 



Some little time before he took up the stud}' of geology in 

 earnest, he had tried his hand at rhyming, and one of his efforts 

 describes the finding of his first fossil. The first verse ran 

 thus : — 



' O ancient relic of the bye-gone days, 



Come let me clutch thee with my eager hand 

 Strange thoughts arise as on thy form I gaze, 



Thou dost my mind expand ; 

 Thoughts of the past, when thou wert but a bud, 



And nestled in some forest giant's arms, 

 Who held thee high above the surging flood, 



From Nature's fierce alarms. 



The favourite hunting grounds for fossils of our young 

 geologist were the coal pit tips, the quarries and ravines of 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire. On one of his excursions he had 

 the good fortune to meet with Captain Aitken, F.G.S., of 

 Bacup, who opened out a new world to our friend — introduced 

 him to a wealth of scientific literature hitherto undreamed of, 

 and personally presented him to Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. 

 of Manchester, and to Messrs. Davis and Spencer, and the 

 writer, of Halifax, and to many others. 



Now his outlook and sympathies began to broaden and 

 deepen ; his work became more intelligent and systematic ; 

 he soon qualified as a certificated teacher under the Science and 

 Art Departments ; opened a class in geology at the Walsden 

 Institute in September, 1878. His teaching was plain, effective, 



1908 February i. 



