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BUCKLAND, WILLIAM (1784–1856)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 732 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BUCKLAND, See also:WILLIAM (1784–1856) , See also:English divine and geologist, eldest son of the Rev. See also:Charles Buckland, See also:rector of Templeton and Trusham, in See also:Devon, was See also:born at See also:Axminster on the 12th of See also:March 1784. He was educated at the See also:grammar school of See also:Tiverton, and at See also:Winchester, and in 18o1 was elected a See also:scholar of Corpus Christi See also:College, See also:Oxford, becoming B. A. in 1804. In 18o9 he was elected a See also:fellow of his college, and was admitted into See also:holy orders. From See also:early boyhood he had exhibited a strong See also:taste for natural See also:science, which was subsequently stimulated by the lectures of Dr See also:John See also:Kidd on See also:mineralogy and See also:chemistry; and his See also:attention was especially See also:drawn to the then See also:infant science of See also:geology. He also attended the lectures of See also:Sir See also:Christopher Pegge (1765–1822) on See also:anatomy. He now devoted himself systematically to an examination of the See also:geological structure of, See also:Great See also:Britain, making excursions, and investigating the See also:order of superposition of the strata and the characters of the organic remains which they contained. In 1813, on the resignation of Dr Kidd, he was appointed reader in mineralogy in Oxford; and the See also:interest excited by' his lectures was so great that in 1819 a readership in geology was founded and especially endowed by the See also:treasury, Dr Buckland being the first holder of the new See also:appointment. In 1818 Dr Buckland was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1824 and again in 1840 he was chosen See also:president of the Geological Society of See also:London. In 1825 he was presented by his college to the living of Stoke Charity, near See also:Whitchurch, Hants, and in the same See also:year he was appointed by See also:Lord See also:Liverpool to a canonry of the See also:cathedral of See also:Christ See also:Church, Oxford, when the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him. In 1825, also, he married See also:Mary, the eldest daughter of Mr See also:Benjamin See also:Morland of Sheepstead See also:House, near See also:Abingdon, Berks, by whose abilities and excellent See also:judgment he was materially assisted in his See also:literary labours.

In 1832 he presided over the second See also:

meeting of the See also:British Association, which was then held at Oxford. In 1845 he was appointed by Sir See also:Robert See also:Peel to the vacant deaneryof See also:Westminster, and was soon after inducted to the living of See also:Islip, near Oxford, a preferment attached to the deanery. In 1847 he was appointed a trustee in the British Museum; and in 1848 he was awarded the See also:Wollaston See also:medal by the Geological Society of London. In 1849 his See also:health began to give way under the increasing pressure of his multifarious duties ; and the later years of his See also:life were overshadowed by a serious illness, which compelled him to live in retirement. He died on the 24th of See also:August 1856, and was buried in a spot which he had himself chosen in Islip See also:churchyard. Buckland was a See also:man many-sided in his abilities, and of a singularly wide range of attainments. Apart from his published See also:works and See also:memoirs in connexion with the See also:special See also:department of geology, and in addition to the See also:work entailed upon him by the positions which he at different times held in the Church of See also:England, he entered with great See also:enthusiasm into many See also:practical questions connected with agricultural and sanitary science, and various social and even medical problems. As a teacher he possessed See also:powers of the highest order ; and the university of Oxford is enriched by the large and valuable private collections, illustrative of geology and mineralogy, which he amassed in the course of his active life. It is, however, upon his published scientific works that Dr Buckland's great reputation is mainly based. His first great work was the well-known Reliquiae Diluvianae, or Observations on the Organic Remains contained in caves, fissures, and diluvial See also:gravel attesting the See also:Action of a Universal See also:Deluge, published in 1823 (2nd ed. 1824), in which he supplemented his former observations on the remains of See also:extinct animals discovered in the cavern of Kirkdale in See also:Yorkshire, and expounded his views as to the bearing of these and similar cases on the Biblical See also:account of the Deluge. Thirteen years after the publication of the Reliquiae, Dr Buckland was called upon, in accordance with the will of the See also:earl of See also:Bridgewater, to write one of the See also:series of works known as the Bridgewater See also:Treatises.

The See also:

design of these treatises was to exhibit the " See also:power, See also:wisdom, and goodness of See also:God, as manifested in the Creation," and none of them was of greater value, as evinced by its vitality, than that on " Geology and Mineralogy." Originally published in 1836, it has gone through three See also:editions, and though not a " See also:manual " of geological science, it still possesses high value as a storehouse of geological and palaeontological facts bearing upon the particular See also:argument which it was designed to illustrate. The third edition, issued in 1858, was edited by his son See also:Francis T. Buckland, and is accompanied by a memoir of the author and a See also:list of his publications. Of Dr Buckland's numerous See also:original contributions to the sciences of Geology and Palaeontology, the following may be mentioned: (1) " On the Structure of the See also:Alps and adjoining parts of the See also:Continent, and their relation to the Secondary and Transition Rocks of England " (See also:Annals of Phil., 1821); (2) " Account of an Assemblage of Fossil See also:Teeth and Bones of See also:Elephant, See also:Rhinoceros, See also:Hippopotamus, &c., discovered in a See also:cave at Kirkdale in Yorkshire in the year 1821 " (Phil. Trans.); (3) " On the See also:Quartz See also:Rock of the Lickey See also:Hill in See also:Worcestershire (Trans. Geol. See also:Soc.) ; (4) " On the Megalosaurus or Great Fossil See also:Lizard of Stonesfield " (Ibid.); (5) " On the Cycadeoideae, a See also:Family of See also:Plants found in the Oolite Quarries of the Isle of See also:Portland " (Ibid.); (6) " On the See also:Discovery of a New See also:Species of Pterodactyle in the See also:Lias of Lyme Regis " (Ibid.); (7) " On the Discovery of See also:Coprolites or Fossil Faeces in the Lias of Lyme Regis, and in other Formations " (Ibid.); (8) " On the Evidences of Glaciers in See also:Scotland and the See also:North of England " (Prot. Geol. Soc. Lond.); (9) " On the See also:South-Western See also:Coal See also:District of England " (See also:joint See also:paper with the Rev. W. D.

See also:

Conybeare, Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond.); (to) " On the Geology of the neighbourhood of See also:Weymouth, and the adjacent parts of the See also:Coast of See also:Dorset " (joint paper with Sir H. De la Beche, Trans. Geol. Soc. See also:Land.). With regard to the Glacial theory propounded by See also:Agassiz, no one welcomed it with greater ardour than Buckland, and he zealously sought to trace out evidences of former glaciation in Britain. A See also:record of the interesting discussion which took See also:place at the Geological Society's meeting in London in See also:November 1840, after the See also:reading of a paper by Buckland, was printed in the Midland Naturalist, See also:October 1883.

End of Article: BUCKLAND, WILLIAM (1784–1856)

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