PREFACE. 
IX 
afterwards the baronet. Both these men moulded their 
lives on his teaching, and enriched geological science by 
their papers and collections. Among his students now 
living, Sir Henry Acland, Storey Maskelyne, and Ruskin 
have borne witness in these pages to his power. He was 
the founder of the new learning in Oxford, and he started 
the movement which has borne fruit in the present place 
of the natural sciences in the studies of the University. 
Buckland’s influence, however, was felt as a teacher and 
master far beyond Oxford. To him Murchison owed his 
first lesson in the field, and his first “ true launch” in 1824 
into the line of work in which he was in after years to do 
so much. To him, in 1831, Murchison turned for advice 
and assistance when he had decided to attack the difficult 
problem of Welsh geology, and from him he obtained the 
clue to the true sequence of the rocks below the Old Red 
Sandstone on the banks of the Wye that led ultimately 
to the Silurian System. To him, too, is due the discovery 
of the value of the phosphates in the coprolite beds that 
has contributed so much to the development of modern 
agriculture. In this connection Lord Playfair bears ample 
witness, and tells us in this Life how much he owes to 
Buckland’s friendship and guidance. 
When the history of the progress of geological knowledge 
comes to be written, the work of the Geological Society 
of London in organising and directing individual effort 
will be fully recognised. Founded in 1807 by Grenough, 
it attracted some of the acutcst intellects of the day— 
Wollaston, Warburton, Fitton, and others. Buckland 
joined it in 1817, and Sedgwick in the following year. 
