134 MACCULLOCH the deviations of the plumb-line along the meridian of the Trigonometrical Survey. In the course of the explorations necessary for the purposes of these reports he made extensive observations on the geology and mineralogy of Scotland. He formed also a collection of the mineral productions and rocks of that country, which he presented to the Geological Society in 1814. At that time compara tively little had been done in the investigation of Scottish geology. Finding the field so entirely his own, and so full of promise, he devoted himself to its cultivation with great ardour. One of his earliest and most important labours was the examination of the whole range of islands along the west of Scotland, at that time not easily visited, and presenting many obstacles to a scientific explorer. The results of this survey appeared (1819) in the form of his Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, including the Isle of Man (2 vols. 8vo, with an atlas of plates in 4to), which forms one of the classical treatises on British geology. He continued to write papers, chiefly on the rocks and minerals of Scotland, and had at last gathered so large an amount of information that the Government was prevailed upon in the year 1826 to employ him in the preparation of a geological map of Scotland. From that dato up to the time of his death he returned each summer to Scotland and traversed every district of the kingdom, inserting the geological features upon Arrowsmith s map, which was the only one then available for his purpose. He lived to complete this great labour, and to prepare also a small volume explanatory of the map, but he died before these were published in 1836. Among his other works the following may be mentioned : A Geological Classification of Rocks, with Descriptive Synopses, comprising the Elements of Geology, 1 vol. 8vo, 1821 ; The Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland) in a series of letters to Sir Walter Scott, 4 vols. 8vo, 1824; A. System of Geology, with a Theory of the Earth and an examination of its Connexion loith the Sacred Records, 2 vols. 8vo, 1831. His versatility of acquirement was shown by the publication also of works on malaria, remittent and intermittent diseases, the art of making wines, natural and revealed religion, besides numerous memoirs in various departments of natural history and antiquities. During a visit to Cornwall he was killed by being dragged along in the wheel of his carriage, 21st August 1835. Dr Macculloch s name will ever be regarded with honour as one of the pioneers of geology in Britain. Essentially a mineralogist and petrographer, he was the first to trace out with some approach to truth the general distribution of the various rock-formations of Scotland. His temperament unhappily led him to look with jealousy and mistrust upon the labours of some of his more illus trious contemporaries, and even to ignore them in his published writings. In particular he appears to have been irritated by the rapid a Ivances made by pakeontological geology, and the increas ingly large place given to that department of the science, while his own favourite domain of minerals and rocks was proportionately neglected. His feelings of dissent were strongly expressed in the posthumous memoir to accompany his map of Scotland ; but their bitterness may in part be attributed to the influence of failing health. Much hostile criticism was expended on his description of the manners and customs of the Highlanders, which were certainly amusing and picturesque, though sometimes his love of an effective period seems to have led him to exaggeration. The way in which he was appointed to conduct a geological survey of Scotland, unknown to the public bodies of that country, also led to considerable oppo sition. But the solid services rendered by Macculloch to the progress of geology njust be regarded as far outweighing any objections that have been made to his literary work or peculiarities of character. M CULLOCH, JOHN RAMSAY (1779-1864), a distin guished writer on political economy and statistics, was born on 1st March 1779, at Whithorn in Wigtownshire. His family belonged to the class of " statesmen," or small landed proprietors, Having received his early education from his maternal grandfather, a Scotch clergyman, he came to Edin burgh, and was for some time employed there as a clerk in the office of a writer to the signet. But, the Scotsman newspaper having been established at the beginning of 1817, M Culloch sent a contribution to the fourth number, the merit of which was at once recognized ; he soon became connected with the management of the paper, and during 1818 and 1819 acted as editor. Most of his articles in the Scotsman related to questions of political .economy, and he delivered lectures in Edinburgh on that science. He now also began to write on subjects of the same class in the Edinburgh Revieiv, his first contribution to that periodical being an article on Ricardo s Principles of Political Economy in 1818. Within the next few years he gave both public lectures and private instruction in London on political economy, and had amongst his hearers or pupils many persons of high social position, and some who were important in the political world. In 1823 he was chosen to fill the lectureship established by subscription in honour of the memory of Ricardo. A movement was set on foot in 1825 by Jeffrey and others to induce the Government to found in the university of Edinburgh a chair of political economy, separate from that of moral philosophy, the intention being to obtain the appointment for M Culloch. This project fell to the ground; but in 1828 he was made professor of political economy in the London University. He then fixed his residence permanently in London, where he continued his literary work, being now one of the regular writers in the Edinburgh Review. Indeed it appears from a letter of his to Macvey Napier in 1830 that he regarded himself, though Napier did not admit the justice of the claim, as entitled to be the sole contributor of economical articles to the Review. In 183S he was appointed comp troller of Her Majesty s Stationery Office; the duties of this position, which he held till his death, he discharged with conscientious fidelity, and introduced important re forms in the management of the department. Sir Robert Peel, in recognition of the services he had rendered to political science, conferred on him a literary pension of c200 per annum. He was elected a foreign associate of the Institute of France (Academy of Moral and Political Sciences). He died, after a short illness, on llth November 1864, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. To his personal character and social qualities very favourable testimony is borne by those who knew him best. In general politics he always remained a Whig pure and simple; though he was in intimate relations with James Mill and his circle, he never shared the Radical opinions of that group. M Culloch cannot be regarded as an original thinker on political economy. He did not contribute any new ideas to that science, or introduce any noteworthy correction of the views, either as to method or doctrine, generally accepted by the dominant school of his day. But the work he did must be pronounced, in- relation to the wants of his time, a very valuable one. It was at an important crisis that he appeared in the field of economical discussion. The principles of free trade had been powerfully asserted before the public in the celebrated petition of the merchants of London, drawn up by Mr Tooke and presented to parliament by Mr Alexander Baring in 1820. Political economy, to which the bullion con troversy had previously attracted much attention, was more and more engaging the minds of political writers and of statesmen. But the new views had to encounter fierce and sometimes un scrupulous opposition. The Edinburgh Review was the principal organ of the reformers, and was maintaining, when M Culloch became a writer in it, an energetic warfare against the policy founded on the mercantile theory of wealth. Naturally endowed with strong sense and sagacity, and possessing a rare capacity for arduous and prolonged mental exertion, he threw himself, with the ardour of conviction, into the great struggle. There can be no doubt that his labours on the whole contributed largely to the diffusion of just ideas on the economic questions then under debate, and to the right direction of the national legislation with respect to them. It must at the same time be admitted that his treat ment of the subjects with which he dealt is not marked by any special breadth or elevation. He adopted too hastily the theoretic exaggerations of some of Smith s successors, and exhibited in full
measure their habitual deadness, in the study of social questions,