Letter from John Phillips, St Mary's Lodge, York to Edward Sabine Phillips praises [Roderick Impey] Murchison as a geologist and describes meeting him 29 years ago. Refers to Murchison’s respect and value for [Phillips] Uncle [William] Smith. Phillips describes his father’s ‘lower pedigree’ as a ‘Welsh landowner’, his parents death when he was a child and coming in to the care of his uncle William Smith. Phillips remarks it was William Smith who sparked an interest in him a ‘taste for geology and palaeontology’. Describes drawing William Smith’s fossils, colouring his maps as a boy, and preparing for a career as an engineer. Phillips ‘abandoned’ his plans to become an engineer in 1824 choosing to pursue science. Refers to producing the Geology of Yorkshire in 1829. Includes a list of Phillips works with dates. Phillips refers to his ‘practice as a Lecturer in geology’ and his work regarding a geological survey. Includes a photograph of the moon [see MS/257/3/260] and discussion regarding the telescope and declination. Refers to their Parliamentary Committee. Phillips thanks Sabine for his table of the ‘results of the moon’s influence on the horizontal needle’. 20 July 1853