30 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
[CH. II. 
and taking up a handful of earth, smelt it. “ Uxbridge/’ 
he exclaimed, his geological nose telling him the precise 
locality. He was very fond of “ field lectures ” as an adjunct 
to his ordinary course, and they were always well attended, 
both by students and others interested in the practical study 
of geology. On one occasion, when lecturing on Shotover 
Hill, a member of his class, Mr. Howley, afterwards Arch¬ 
bishop of Canterbury, discovered a lark’s nest with eggs in 
it, and bringing it to the lecturer, asked if he considered it 
to be of the “ oolite formation.” Buckland also delighted 
in giving a new class of equestrian listeners a practical 
lesson in geology, by sticking them all in the mud to make 
them remember the Kimmeridge clay. He would often 
give out as a notice at the end of a lecture, “ To-morrow 
the class will meet at the top of Shotover Hill at ten 
o’clock”; or, “The next lecture will take place in the fields 
above the quarry at Stonesfield or, “ The class will meet 
at the G. W. R. Station at nine o’clock ; when, in the train 
between Oxford and Bristol, I shall be able to point out 
and explain the several different formations we shall cross ; 
and, if you please, we will examine the rocks and some of 
the most interesting geological features of Clifton and its 
neighbourhood.” The true meaning of the terms “ strati¬ 
fication, denudation, faults, elevations, etc., could never be 
learnt in a lecture-room,” he would say. 
Sir Henry Acland, one of the few of Buckland’s pupils 
still living, tells a characteristic story of his manner of 
lecturing. It shall be given in his own words :— 
“ You have asked me,” writes Sir Henry to the biographer, 
to tell you how I was attacked by Professor Buckland, 
