Illness and Death
Around the end of 1849, he contracted a disease which increasingly disabled him until his death in 1856. Post-mortem examination identified a tubercular infection of the upper cervical vertebrae which had spread to the brain. The plot for his grave had been reserved but, when the gravedigger set to work, it was found that an outcrop of solid Jurassic limestone lay just below ground level and explosives had to be used for excavation. This may have been a last jest by the noted geologist, reminiscent of Richard Whatley’s Elegy intended for Professor Buckland written in 1820:
- Where shall we our great Professor inter
- That in peace may rest his bones?
- If we hew him a rocky sepulchre
- He’ll rise and break the stones
- And examine each stratum that lies around
- For he’s quite in his element underground
Read more about this topic: William Buckland
Famous quotes containing the words illness and, illness and/or death:
“... how I understand that love of living, of being in this wonderful, astounding world even if one can look at it only through the prison bars of illness and suffering! Plus je vois, the more I am thrilled by the spectacle.”
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
“All signs of superhuman nature appear in man as illness or insanity.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“My glass shall not persuade me I am old
So long as youth and thou are of one date,
But when in thee time’s furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)