164 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
[CH. VI. 
out was greatly needed. Agricultural prospects were at 
a very low ebb, and every sort of advice was looked upon 
with the utmost contempt and scorn by the John-Trot 
geniuses of farming. The more ignorant a man is, the 
more conceited he is; and, in order to convince both 
farmer and labourer that science was any good, it was 
very important to be able to point to practical proofs of 
its benefit. 
Buckland’s conviction of the immense value which 
Geology might confer on Agriculture was abundantly veri¬ 
fied by his discovery of the fertilising qualities of coprolites. 
It is difficult for the farmer of to-day, who is provided by 
chemistry with numerous agencies to stimulate and enrich 
the soil, to appreciate the value and importance of this 
discovery. At that time the farmers* saying “Nothing 
like muck ” was certainly true, for muck was the only 
manure that was available. No artificial substitutes were 
invented, and guano was still unknown except at almost 
prohibitive prices. 
In Baron Liebig’s “ Letters on Chemistry ” the following 
passage occurs, which foreshadows the important results 
that have since followed the use of this unexpected source 
of agricultural wealth :— 
“To restore the disturbed equilibrium of constitution to 
the soil, to fertilise her fields, England requires an 
enormous supply of animal excrements ; and it must 
therefore excite considerable interest to learn, that she 
possesses beneath her soil beds of fossil 4 guano,’ strata of 
animal excrements in a state which will probably allow 
for their being employed as manure at a very small 
expense. The coprolites discovered by Dr. Buckland (a 
