vial Phenomena in North Wales *." He was a contributor to the Linnean Society of a paper on the adaptation of Sloths to their way of life (1835); and furnished many essays and notices on special subjects of interest to the Philosophical Magazine, Silliman's Journal, the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, and the Reports of the British Association. The list published by Agassiz of the works and essays which bear the name of Buckland, extends to 66-spread over the whole period of his life in Oxford since 1813. In 1845 he became Dean of Westminster, and changed his residence, but not his habits of mental and bodily exertion. Sanitary measures, amendments in his Cathedral, agricultural improvements, the potato disease,—all occupied his attention, and consumed his time, so that from this time he almost ceased to labour as an author, though he still continued with unabated zeal the duties of his Professorship.

Dr. Buckland's numerous publications include very largely the results of personal observation, on features of physical geography, the succession of strata, the distribution of glacial detritus, the structure, habits of life, manner of death, and mode of occurrence of extinct animals. To him, more than to any geologist, are we indebted for unexpected suggestions, curious inquiries, and novel kinds of evidence. Thus in Kirkdale Cave, the peculiar condition of the broken bones-the smoothed surfaces of some-the worn aspect of others—the condition of the teeth-the layers of Stalagmite-the 'Album Græcum' -became in the mind of Buckland evidence of the mode of life and death of the former inhabitants. The footprints of Cheirotherium were joined with the ripple-mark of the rain-spot to determine the character of the mesozoic shore :-Coprolites were searched for the food of the Ichthyosaurus; snails were studied to explain holes in limestone; gelatine was extracted from the Mammoth's bones; toads were enclosed in cavities to determine their tenacity of life; the living hyæna was set to crush the bones of an ox, and thus to furnish evidence for the conviction of the old midnight robber of preglacial

caverns.

Of general views on geology, Dr. Buckland was sparing as an author, though frequently and eloquently he declared them as a Professor. Physical Geology in its higher forms had scarcely existence in the earlier part of his career. Instead of contributing to its

Geol. Soc. Proc. vol. iii.

Linn. Trans. vol. xvii.

progress in after-years, he laboured wisely and well in the rich field of special discovery: now collecting and describing the mighty reptiles like Plesiosaurus and Iguanodon, or the flying wonder the Pterodactylus; at another time studying the beaks of Chimæra, the wings of Neuroptera, the ink bags of Sepiada; now questioning the great English Botanist on the reticulated stems of Cycadeoidea, and fathoming the mind of Owen on the little Marsupialia of Stonesfield, or inviting the eagle glance of Cuvier on the serrated teeth of Megalosaurus Bucklandi.

So passed the life of this man, strong in mind and strong in body; working hard and setting others to work; gathering and giving knowledge; a patient student, a powerful teacher, a friendly associate; a valiant soldier for Geology in days when she was weak, an honoured leader in her hour of triumph.

Perhaps of all the varied marks of respect which were heaped upon him by the learned societies in all parts of the world, none yielded him higher gratification than that which threw a ray of splendour over his latest appearance at the meetings of the Geological Society. For there, in February 1848, he received from the hands of Sir H. T. De la Beche, with very appropriate expressions, the Wollaston Medal, which is the highest mark of honour known in Geological Science— an honour which would, doubtless, long before have been paid to him, but for the frequency of his election to office in that Society *. In the reply of Dr. Buckland to the Address of the President, we find expressions such as could only be uttered by a geologist convinced of the grand destiny of his science, and conscious of his own right to be remembered among the authors of "discoveries whose names are inscribed on the annals of the physical history of the globe." And these are followed by words which embody a humble confession of the comparative littleness and incompleteness of all human knowledge words too prophetic of the approaching close of his own valuable and honourable career,-for within two short years that apparently indefatigable mind ceased from its labours, and only the form of Buckland survived till the 15th of August, 1856.

DR. WILLIAM FREDERICK CHAMBERS died of paralysis in December 1855, aged 69 years. Prior to his retirement from active

*He was President for the second time in 1840-1841.

life on account of the disorder which finally proved fatal, he had for many years had the most extensive practice as a physician of any in London. The mental character to which he owed this distinction is interesting as a subject of psychological study, and valuable as an example and encouragement to those who desire to lead a similar life of usefulness. His intellectual powers were not of that order to which it is usual to apply the term "genius:" no original discovery, no striking innovation marked his career. Nor was he a man of very sparkling talent: there was nothing that could be called "brilliancy" in his thought, his writing, or his mode of action. What he possessed in an eminent degree was, wisdom, judgment—that peculiar balance of faculties which enables a man to think soundly and to be a safe adviser and guardian. The circumstances of his life had helped to give this form to his character. He had received his public education at Westminster and Cambridge, where the studies are such as to cultivate in an equal degree the imaginative and scientific faculties. The postponement of his entrance on special professional studies till he was three-and-twenty years of age, enabled him to bring to these studies, when he did engage in them, a fully-formed mind, and so to escape the danger often arising from crude prejudices acquired in early studentship. His election, at the age of thirty, as Physician to St. George's Hospital, kept him afterwards closely to the duties of practical life, from which he was never distracted by special scientific inquiries; and accordingly his lectures on the practice of medicine and the lectures on cholera, which at the request of his colleagues he gave in 1833, with the addresses which he delivered as President of the Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1846 and 1847, constitute the bulk of what he has published to the world. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828, and through life was a conspicuous illustration of the intimate connexion between sound science and practical usefulness.

SIR ALEXANDER CRICHTON, second son of Mr. Alexander Crichton of Woodhouselee and Newington in Mid Lothian, was born in Edinburgh on the 2nd of December, 1763. He received his elementary education in his native town, and afterwards matriculated in its University. He was placed at an early age with Mr. Alexander Wood, a surgeon of eminence in Edinburgh. At the expiration

of his apprenticeship, in 1784, Mr. Crichton came to London to prosecute his studies, more especially anatomy, and the following spring he went to Leyden, in company with Mr. Robert Jackson, who became afterwards so favourably known by his writings on subjects connected with military surgery. Though Mr. Crichton had been brought up with the view of prosecuting surgery as his profession, he thought it advisable to submit himself to the necessary examinations before the Professors of Leyden for the degree of M.D., which he obtained in July 1785.

After passing a short time in Holland, he proceeded to Paris to perfect himself in the French language, and to avail himself of the facilities afforded in that city for advancement in every department of medical knowledge.

Leaving Paris in the summer of 1786, Dr. Crichton studied successively at Stuttgardt, Vienna, and Halle, residing, during his stay at the last-named University, in the house of Professor Meckel, the second celebrated anatomist of that name. He then passed some time in Berlin and in Göttingen, where he remained till September 1788. Returning from Germany, where he had spent three years in the acquisition of medical and scientific knowledge, Dr. Crichton established himself in London as a surgeon, and became a member of the Corporation of Surgeons in May 1789. But not liking the operative part of the surgical profession, he withdrew from that body on May 1, 1791, and became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on the 25th of June, 1791; shortly after which he was appointed Physician to a large Dispensary in Featherstone Buildings, Holborn. There, in conjunction with Dr. Bradley, he formed a "Clinical Institution," upon a plan similar to that followed at the University of Göttingen, and delivered Lectures upon the most remarkable and instructive cases which presented themselves. About 1796 Dr. Crichton was elected Physician to the Westminster Hospital, and during his connexion with that institution he was in the practice of delivering three courses of lectures; viz. on Chemistry, on Materia Medica, and on the Practice of Physic. In 1798 he published his work on Mental Derangement, which gained him reputation at home and abroad; and having now attained a high professional position, he was appointed Physician to the Duke of Cambridge. In 1803 Dr. Crichton was invited to become physician

in ordinary to His Imperial Majesty Alexander I. of Russia. Having accepted this appointment, he was kindly received in St. Petersburgh, and soon gained the full confidence and esteem of the Emperor and the several members of the imperial family. In the course of a few years he was also appointed to the head of the Civil Medical Department, in which capacity he was much consulted by the Empress Dowager, in the construction and regulation of many institutions which owe their origin to her active charity and watchful superintendence.

Dr. Crichton's exertions to mitigate the horrors of an epidemic which was devastating the south-east provinces of Russia in 1809 were acknowledged by the Emperor, who conferred on him the title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Vladimir, Third Class. In 1814 His Imperial Majesty bestowed on him that of the Second Class for his long and faithful services, and as "Médecin en chef pour la partie Civile." Having obtained leave of absence on account of the state of his health, he returned to this country in the spring of 1819. The following year, however, he was recalled to attend the Grand Duchess Alexandra (the present Dowager Empress), whom he accompanied, on her convalescence, to the court of Berlin, where he stayed a short time, and then returned to his family. On the 27th of December, 1820, His Majesty Frederick William III. created him Knight Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, Second Class. In 1821 Dr. Crichton was knighted by His Majesty George IV., and obtained the royal permission to wear his foreign orders. The late Emperor Nicholas I. also marked his sense of the services of Sir Alexander Crichton by bestowing upon him the additional title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Anne, in August 1830.

Dr. Crichton married, in 1800, Frances, daughter of Mr. Edward Dodwell, of West Moulsey. He was one of the oldest members of the Linnean and Royal Societies, having been elected a member of the first in 1793, and of the latter in 1800. He was member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburgh, and of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, and Corresponding Member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Göttingen, of the Royal Institute of Medicine at Paris, and of many other societies. His writings were the following:-

A Translation of Dr. J. F. Blumenbach's Essay on Generation. 1792.