168 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCKLAND. 
[CH, VI. 
for the condensation of carbon during the process of their 
growth, if it be not carbon in another form. And now, 
after being buried in the earth for long ages in fields 
of coal, that latent light is again brought forth and 
liberated, and made to work, as in that locomotive, for 
great human purposes.” 
Like a flash of light, the saying illuminated in an instant 
an entire field of science. 1 
The following letter, written by Lord Playfair to the 
biographer, recording some memories of Buckland, may 
be appropriately inserted in a chapter mainly devoted 
to the Dean’s agricultural investigations, since Lord 
Playfair’s brilliant discoveries in chemistry have themselves 
proved of such infinite service to the scientific farmer. 
“My DEAR Mrs. Gordon, —You ask me for some 
personal memories of your father, Dean Buckland, who was 
one of the best and dearest friends of my youth. I forget 
the circumstances of my introduction to him, but it must 
have been in 1840. I had before that year met him 
at scientific assemblies, and was an admirer of his scientific 
books ; but until 1840 I do not think that I knew him 
personally. However, we were introduced, most probably 
by our mutual friend Sir Henry de la Beche. Our acquaint¬ 
ance ripened into a closer and more intimate friendship 
than appears possible by the relations of a man of 
world-wide fame, in mature years, with a young Scotch 
youth who had just emerged from his scientific studies 
at College. The kindness of Buckland’s heart explains 
this anomaly. I had published one or two original 
investigations in Germany, which had attracted some 
attention among chemists, and I found to my surprise that, 
both at Berlin and in London, the young chemist of 
1 “Cyclopaedia of Nature Teachings,” Hugh Macmillan, LL.D. 
