have quite spare specimens, if ever so common, I shall be glad to have them. I don't understand the figures in Ure's book, in many respects, without specimens; his Patella fungites, his cockles, fishes' teeth, &c. If not difficult to procure, I should be pleased with some of the charred branches of trees, the varieties of hard coal, and minute shells. I will attend to your letter in all particulars. If I can send you anything, pray say how, and I will accompany them with my Elucidation of Colours for your acceptance, to entertain you a little. I am, Kind Sir, yours very faithfully,

"3d March 1815.

"2 Mead Place, Lambeth, Surrey."

JAS. SOWERBY.

This letter is interesting, both because of the reference to the History of Rutherglen,* and as indicating how little progress had been made in British paleontology at the time it was written. A glance now at the rough figures given by Ure, is sufficient to detect the species from which his drawing had been made. David Ure's book was a special favourite of Dr Fleming. He had early found in it a breadth of view, and an accuracy of observation, in the young science, geology, which were not equalled in his native country at the time; and in his after labours, in more advanced science, he had great pleasure in referring to the work of the Scottish Church Probationer.

The revival of physical science in Britain towards the close of the last, and during the early part of the present, century, had extended its influence to Ireland. Associations were formed for its promotion in the capital, and in one or two of the large provincial towns. In Cork a society was founded, by a royal charter obtained in 1813, for providing lectures in "Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and Natural History, including Mineralogy, and Botany, and Agriculture." The association took the name of "The Cork Institution." In 1815, its managers caused advertisements for a lecturer in natural history, to be inserted in the Edinburgh newspapers, and Dr Fleming made application. At this time he strongly entertained the thought of leaving Flisk and settling in Ireland, in order that he might betake himself to natural science, not as a leisure study, but as the business of his life. As regarded * History of Rutherglen by Rev. D. Ure. Glasgow, 1793.

emoluments, he thought that, if permitted to add the fees that might be obtained from private classes, to the salary of £100 allowed by the managers, his income, even at the commencement of his work, could not be less than he had at Flisk, where his stipend did not average more than £150. In his letter of application and inquiry, he referred the Directors to his scientific papers already published, and added—

"To all these testimonials I could also add the most ample recommendations from the following gentlemen, to whom my character and pursuits are well known :-Robt. Jameson, Prof. Nat. Hist. Edin.; J. Playfair, Prof. Nat. Phil. Edin.; Dr Hope, Prof. Chem. Edin.; Dr Monro, Prof. Anat. Edin.; Dr Barclay, Lect. Anat. Edin.; Dr Murray, Lect. Chem.; and from Dr Brewster, Dr Wright, Dr Yule, and Mr Neill, Edin.; and to Dr Leach, British Museum. I have thus candidly stated to you what I conceive would be my pretensions were I to appear as a candidate for your lectureship; and although the situation be one which would be most congenial with my feelings and pursuits, I trust you will forgive me for thus appearing by my queries to temper my zeal for science with a little worldly prudence."

The answer from Mr Edmund Davy, Lecturer on Chemistry and Secretary to the Institution, was, in some respects, very favourable. Neill, however, seemed to see farther into the matter than his friend. He writes urging caution, and so puts his views as to tempt the young minister of Flisk to set his mind on something higher than the Cork lectureship.

"Without, he says, more satisfactory tidings than the Secretary's letter, I would think it rash to give up Flisk. How respectable is your station in society, and in the literary world, as you now stand. Minister of the Church of Scotland, F.R.S.E., universally considered the first Zoologist in Scotland, one of the first Geologists, your name ranked among the most distinguished writers in the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, and conveyed down to posterity along with them in Napier's preface."

In a letter, of date 20th January 1816, Dr Fleming, in answer to a communication from his friend, hinting at pecuniary loss if he should remove to Cork, compares his present income with the prospects before him, and resolves to make farther inquiries. Dismissing the lectureship, he gives the bachelor of Canonmills a somewhat tempting glimpse into the parlour at Flisk :

"After dining with Mr Syme, I took my station at my own fireside, at

six o'clock, the room comfortable, my wife contented, and reading Waterloo," and a favourite 'yellow yoit' (yellow hammer) ready to sleep upon my shoulder. Under such circumstances, I am in good spirits, and purpose replying to your letter, and then, if I do not forget, to several 'Annals'' matters.

"What seemed most noxious in the Annals was the quiet way in which Professor Jameson takes or gets all the merit of ascertaining the beds of trap in the Old Red Sandstone. There is something mysterious in the proceedings. When I published 'Papa Stour,' the Professor insisted that I must have committed an error in describing conglomerate as conformable with the clay stone,&c., of that island; and his reason for considering me wrong was, 'no such arrangement exists in the Wern. Geog.' My Dundee paper confirmed 'Papa Stour,' and then I got loose of trammels, odious and injurious. He knew that I considered the Ochils as a part of 'Dundee,' and older than the coalfield; and I told him that the range of hills from Dundee to Perth were Old Red Sandstone ! Nay, after I was at the Redhead, I visited Kinnoul Hill (the day you went to Forfar) and saw the regular succession from the base to the top. Nay more, I expressly told him (upon my return from Arbroath), that Dunbar was not what he suspected, but that it belonged to the Old Red Sandstone, and that between Traprain Law and Sunnyside he would find beds of Clinkstone Por. alternating with the limestone of that district. Jameson visited Dunbar, changed his faith, and gave the W. Society a paper, the contents of which were carefully published; while my Redhead paper was scarcely noticed, except my account of the gravel beds. I was advised to reserve it for the Wern. Mem., and in the mean time the boldest assertions which it contains have been verified without any notice, public or private.To Jameson I feel all the deference due to a great master of the science, but still let justice be done. Now, taking all circumstances in connection, I do consider that there is something mysterious in all this, and begin to suspect that I must either publish my observations when made, or serve as a step of the stair to those who consider not upon what they are trampling."

Dr Fleming intimated to the managers of the Cork Institution his willingness to take one course of lectures, and resolved to take Neill's advice to " see things with his own eyes before he determined on a permanent settlement." He was unanimously elected over several other candidates, and delivered a course of eighteen lectures on Botany in the spring of 1816. His Presbytery, with great kindness and ready liberality, not only granted him leave of absence for three months, but took upon themselves the supply of his pulpit. The lectures were

most successful. His visit to Ireland led him, greatly to the regret of a number of friends he had made in Cork, but much to the delight of Neill, to give up the intention which he had once entertained of making Ireland the place of his abode. While there his mind had not been engrossed with the lectures; for on returning, he drew up and published an interesting outline of "Observations on the Mineralogy of the neighbourhood of Cork." This paper is characterised by evidences of the same powers as have been noted in connection with his mineralogical survey of the northern isles,-discrimination, readiness in the application of nomenclature, and an appreciation of the value of marking the relation in which different series of strata lie to each other.

After he returned from Ireland, he drew up and read the first paper contributed by him to the Royal Society. It is entitled, "Observations on the Junction of the fresh water of Rivers and the salt water of the Sea." The subject had long engrossed his attention. Three years before he had described the mode of observation, and indicated what he thought might be the value of it in relation to the existence of shore plants, &c. at a much greater distance from the sea, than existing views of the reach of the tide would have warranted to expect. But though this paper is both interesting and ingenious, it is clear that he regarded it very much as given for the sake of appearance, having been so long a fellow without having made any addition to the Society's proceedings. Indeed, at this period he had not time for any literary work which did not yield immediate pecuniary advantage. For several years he had been able to add something to his small income as a parish minister, by his labours in the literature of his favourite sciences. The following letters to Neill give us a view of his work in 1819 :—

"I am still very busy, but, alas! the progress is slow, the subject extensive, and in order to do it justice, I would require the private use of the whole Parisian collection of Comparative Anatomy.

"You say you are still overwhelmed with the cares of this life, yet, strange to tell, you are studying Italian for amusement! Rather prepare a course of lectures on Horticulture, or the Physiology of Plants. The new garden will require a lecturer !!

"I have seen the first number of the new Review. The articles appear in general to be written by young hands. There is rather a feebleness of style. At the same time there is a distinct account given of the contents of each book. In the review of Birkbek, for example, the views and true character of that author are infinitely better exposed than in the Edinburgh Review, even independent of the peculiar political bearings of the latter.

"My situation excludes the hope of ever being a traveller. It is my intention to collect facts patiently, to read nature more than books, and trust to Providence more than to politicians.

"Mrs F. joins in warmest regards. Yours ever,

"JOHN FLEMING."

"19th Nov. 1819.

"My Dear Sir,-When I had finished looking over the Sertularia papers, another packet arrived, and I now give a general reply to the whole.

'I was glad to see the last paper, as enabling to correct a mistake into which I had fallen in consequence of relying on the general accuracy of Mr Templeton.

"I have no objections to the insertion of the Rail in the Memoirs, according to the wishes of Prof. Jameson. It was originally sent to fill up a blank rather than to gratify a desire for having it published; and although ten guineas a sheet is an object, in a year like this, when the stipend will scarcely exceed £150, I am not so intent upon cash as to regret that it goes to support the Society, even should its profits fatten the bookseller only.

Waugh has taken care to supply me with food, having sent Greenough's book (far from good), the 12 vol. Linn. Trans., and Samouelle's Entomology, a despicable performance, and Scoresby's work likewise falls into my hands when published.

Many thanks for Montagu's paper. I thought he had communicated a fig. of the head and teeth-but there is no reference. For shame if you have begrudged him a plate! If you are in possession of his drawing, I should like to have an opportunity of copying it.

Young Alex., the son of your friend, came into this world on the 3d of July, and in the notice it is the 4th. It will disturb no one but his biographer, should he deserve one.

"Who is the author of 'Sandstone Petrifactions'—a partizan obviously of crystalline deposits. But such crystallizations are nearly as unintelligible as a central fire without fuel and air-they exist only in the imagination, not in our experience. It would be easy to cut up this theory by the roots; indeed, its only prop has been destroyed by an observation in my Cork paper. Petrified shells gradually pass into the matter of the surrounding rock, therefore they cannot be fragments, but contemporaneously formed figured masses, if this test can be relied on,-a conclusion which this theorist would scarcely venture to draw. Yet, either the test must be relinquished and its dependencies, or this absurdity received.