s of all the natural crystals
then known.

Though still occasionally occupied with the mineral productions of the
earth, I became far more interested in the formation of the earth
itself. Geologists had excited public attention, and had shocked the
clergy and the more scrupulous of the laity by proving beyond a doubt
that the formation of the globe extended through enormous periods of
time. The contest was even more keen then than it is at the present time
about the various races of prehistoric men. It lasted very long, too;
for after I had published my work on Physical Geography, I was preached
against by name in York Cathedral. Our friend, Dr. Buckland, committed
himself by taking the clerical view in his "Bridgewater Treatise;" but
facts are such stubborn things that he was obliged to join the
geologists at last. He and Mrs. Buckland invited Somerville and me to
spend a week with them in Christchurch College, Oxford. Mr. and Mrs.
Murchison were their guests at the same time. Mr. Murchison (now Sir
Roderick) was then rising rapidly to the pre-eminence he now holds as a
geologist. We spent every day in seeing some of the numerous objects of
interest in that celebrated university, venerable for its antiquity,
historical records, and noble architecture.

Somerville and I used frequently to spend the evening with Captain and
Mrs. Kater. Dr. Wollaston, Dr. Young, and others were generally of the
party; sometimes we had music, for Captain and Mrs. Kater sang very
prettily. All kinds of scientific subjects were discussed, experiments
tried and astronomical observations made in a little garden in front of
the house. One evening we had been trying the power of a telescope in
separating double stars till about two in the morning; on our way home
we saw a light in Dr. Young's window, and when Somerville rang the bell,
down came the doctor himself in his dressing-gown, and said, "Come in; I
have something curious to show you." Astronomical signs are frequently
found on ancient Egyptian monuments, and were supposed to have been
employed by the priests to record dates. Now Dr. Young had received a
papyrus from Egypt, sent to him by Mr. Salt, who had found it in a
mummy-case; and that very evening he had proved it to be a horoscope of
the age of the Ptolemies, and had determined the date from the
configuration of the heavens at the time of its construction. Dr. Young
had already made himself famous by the interpretation of hierogly