THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
lieturning to this country in 1844 he made the 
acquaintance of De la Beche, Director-General 
of the Geological Survey, who, with his intuitive 
perception of the merits of a good man tor his 
purpose, soon engaged him. as Mining-geologist c ■> 
the staff of the Survey. In that capacity Smyth 
made explorations in England and Wales and 
in Ireland, besides mapping some districts with 
his own hand. When a few years later (1851) 
the School of Mines was organized, he was ap- 
pointed Lecturer on Mining and Mineralogy, and 
he continued to give his mining lectures dow n to 
the very end. His w T ide knowledge of all that 
relates to the extraction of minerals from the 
crust of the earth led to his being called on to 
undertake many additional duties. He was ap- 
pointed Chief Mineral Inspector to the Office of 
Woods and Forests, and also Mineral Inspector 
to the Duchy of Cornwall. Besides acting as 
adviser to the Crown in all mining questions, he 
was often requested to give his services on Com- 
mittees and Commission. He was appointed 
Chairman of the Royal Commission which, in 
1879, was formed to enquire into the subject of 
accidents in mines, and he had the main share in 
drawing up the voluminous Report of the seven 
years of enquiry spent in this laborious and im- 
portant investigation. It was more especially in 
recognition of this service that he received the 
honour of knighthood in 1887. 
All through life one of the busiest of men, he yet 
had the happy art, by quietly keeping his toils 
in the background, to seem to be possessed of 
ample leisure ready to be placed at the service 
of any f rinds who wanted to talk with him or 
any student who sought his advice. Always on 
the outlook for additions to his knowledge and 
ever ready to impart to others what he had 
gained, himself, he seldom cared to publish what 
he knew. Early in life he wrote an account of 
his wanderings in the East, which appeared in 
1854 under the title of “A Year with the Turks . 55 
A few memoirs by him, chiefly on mineral veins 
and mining localities, found a place in the “Me 
moirs of the Geological Survey 55 and the “Tran- 
sactions of the Geological Society of Cornwall . 55 
He wrote also occasional articles, such as that on | 
Mining in lire’s “Dictionary , 55 likewise a small 
but standard Treatise on Coal and Coal-mining, I 
of which the seventh edition appeared last year. 
Up to within the last year or two of his life 
he showed but little sign of advancing age. His 
step seemed as light, his eye as keen, his mind 
as active as in his early days. But a weakness 
of the heart began to make itself felt and forced 
him to abridge some of his more fatiguing duties. 
He came to the evening gathering of the Royal 
Society last summer, where he looked perhaps 
better than he had done for some time previously, 
and talked in his old cheerful way. Next morn- 
ing, 19th June, sitting in his library with his 
students’ examination-papers before him, he 
quietly passed away, dying as he had lived, in 
harness. 
It is not from the bulk, nor even from the 
intrinsic importance of his published work, that 
the services of Sir Warington Smyth to the 
cause of science are to be estimated. More ef- 
ficient and widespread, perhaps, than the in- 
fluence of his writings, was that of his personal 
example and teaching. Every year he sent forth 
a body of students trained by him in the habits 
of careful observation, of cautions induction, and 
of manly outspoken honesty which were his own 
distinguishing characteristics. These men, scat- 
tered ail over the world, carried with them the 
impress of his instruction, and no more un- 
alloyed pleasure ever came to him than the 
tidings that his pupils had done him credit in the 
career on which he had started them. 
Among the beneficent influences of his honoured 
life we Fellows of the Geological Society count 
those not the least which he exerted for us during 
his long and intimate association with us. He 
joined our body in 1845. For more than thirty 
years he served on our Council filling successi- 
vely the offices of Secretary, Vice-President, and 
President, and for the last seventeen years sitting 
at the Council-table as Foreign Secretary. In 
every capacity in which he could be useful to us 
he was ever ready to give us the benefit of his 
experience and wise counsels. We mourn his 
death with sincere sorrow, and though “the sweet 
benefit of time 55 will doubtless soften our regret, 
we shall never cease to remember with affec- 
tionate regard the distinguished colleague and the 
generous-hearted friend whom we have lost in 
Warington Smyth, 
