Address to the Royal Geographical Society of London : delivered at the anniversary meeting on the 23rd May, 1853 : preceded by observations on presenting the royal medals of the year / by Sir R.I. Murchison.

  • Murchison, Roderick Impey, 1792-1871.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Address to the Royal Geographical Society of London : delivered at the anniversary meeting on the 23rd May, 1853 : preceded by observations on presenting the royal medals of the year / by Sir R.I. Murchison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ADDRESS TO THE By Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, G.C.St.S., D.C.L., M.A., F.R.S., HEHBEE OE THE ACADEMIES OE ST. PETEESBDEG, BEELIN, COPENHAGEN ; AND COBB. INST. OF EEANCE, &C., PRESIDENT. In opening this anniversary discourse, as is usual, with a record of the members we have lost, I first call your attention to the character and labours of that eminent geographer and geologist, my valued friend Leopold von Buch, so unexpectedly taken from us by a typhus fever. For although he had attained the age of 79, M. von Buch was still vigorous in body, and even during the last summer had climbed Alpine heights. Many of you may recollect with what devotion I spoke of the attain- ments and qualities of our deceased foreign member, when, in the year 1845, 1 requested him to receive for his friend and countryman Carl Ritter, the medal which we had adjudicated to that distinguished Prus- sian geographer. I then expressed the joy I felt, when, as your Pre- sident, I was enabled to consign to the great geologist of the con- tinent, the medal which the geographers of Britain had adjudicated to their learned foreign contemporary. I dwelt with fervour on researches, geographical as well as geological, by which Yon Buch had shed light on many lands, from the remotest parts of Scandinavia to the southernmost corners of Europe—from the Alps to the Canary islands. Alas! this bright spirit has fled, and I am now called upon to place before you some of the leading features of the man. Obituary.