88 
JOURNAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 
possessed the genius, the acquirements, the eloquence of a Sedgwick, 
a Buckland, a Murchison, or a Lyell; he may not have had the same 
gift of clothing the most abstruse questions in clear and intelligible 
language: but to none does our science owe more. He was one of 
the earliest cultivators of it, one of the most industrious observers, 
a good mineralogist, and the founder of the Ordnance Geological 
Survey and the Museum of Practical Geology and the School of 
Mines. He was also a most constant contributor to the Transactions 
of the Geological Society. His “ Geological Manual,” and “ How 
to Observe in Geology,” have long been considered as standard 
works; and one of his earliest and least known productions, “Re¬ 
searches in Theoretical Geology,” is remarkable for some very inter¬ 
esting views of the probable mode of formation of our planet. His 
loss will be long and deeply felt; but a more efficient and fit successor 
could not be found than Sir Roderick Murchison, and under his 
auspices I have no doubt that in a few years’ time all our geologi¬ 
cal questions will have been so far elaborated, that it will indeed be 
a difficult task to make [any important discoveries in it, except by 
resorting to the aid of that great discoverer of unknown worlds—the 
microscope—by means of which Ehrenberg has extended to’ such an 
extraordinary degree the domain of nature, and enlarged our views 
of the power and intelligence of the Supreme Being and Creator of 
the universe. 
