HARDWICKE'S 5 C lEN CE- GO S SI P. 



27 



angular boulder from its stiff matrix, tliey cannot 

 do better tliau use a hammer like fig. 1-i. This is 

 sometimes called tlie "Platypus" pick. Both ends 

 can be used, and the pick end is also good for 

 working on soft rocks, like chalk. A little practice 



Pig. 12. Pocket Trimmiiig- 

 haminer. 



Fig 



13. Duck's-head 

 Hammer. 



in the field will teach the student how to use these 

 tools, and when, much better than we can describe 

 on paper. The hammers can be obtained from any 

 scientific instrument manufacturer, or from any of 

 the dealers in geological specimens. We have 

 found that the best hammers for usage, however, 

 were to be made out of an old file, softened and well 

 welded, rolled, and then hammered into a solid 

 mass. If properly tempered, a hammer made in this 

 fashion will last you your life. 



Fig. 14. " Platypus " Pick for clay, &c. 



So much for the rougher weapons of geological 

 strife. Next, be sure and provide yourself with 

 thick-soled shoes or boots. Geological study will 

 take you into a good many queer places, wet and 

 dry, rough anrl smooth, and it is absolutely ueces- 



I sary to be prepared for the worst. Patent leather 

 I boots and kid gloves are rarely worn by practical 

 ! geologists. And we have heard it remarked at the 

 j British Association meetings, that they could always 

 ! tell which members belonged to the Geological 

 i Section by their thick-soled boots. A similar remark 

 1 applies to clothes. The student need not dress for 

 j the quarry as he would for the dining-room. Good, 

 ! strong, serviceable material ouglit to be their basis. 

 Secondly, as to the student's comforts and neces- 

 saries. These are generally the last thing an ardent 

 naturalist thinks about. Por ourselves, however, 

 we give him ample leave to provide himself with 

 pipe and tobacco, should his tastes lie in that direc- 

 tion. We never enjoyed a pipe half so much as when 

 solitarily disinterring organic remains which had 

 slumbered in the lieart of the rock for myriads of 

 ages. As to the beer, we can vouch that it never 

 tastes anything like so good as during a geological 

 excursion. There is a saying — but, of course, it 

 cannot be anything else but apocryphal — that no 

 map of the Geological Survey can be trusted more 

 than two miles from a public-house ! The author of 

 this story doubtless intended to insinuate that the 

 geologists might possibly scamp the ground in their 

 haste to be refreshed ! 



We have found the leathern bags sold for school- 

 book purposes to be as handy to deposit specimens 

 in, during a journey, as anything else. They have 

 the merit of being cheap, are strong, and easily 

 carried. If not large enough, then get a strong, 

 coarse linen havresack, like tliat worn by volunteers 

 on a field day. Paper, cotton loaddirig (not wool), 

 wooden pill-boxes, and a few boxes, which may be 

 obtained from any practical naturalist, with glass 

 tops, are sufficient " stock-in-trade " for the young 

 geologist. The wadding does not adhere to the spe- 

 cimens as wool does, and the glass-topped boxes 

 are useful, as it is not then necessary to open a box 

 and disinter a delicate fossil from its matrix in order 

 to look at it. Add a good strong pocket lens, sach 

 as may be bought for half a crown, and your equip- 

 ment will be coinplete. If you intend to study any 

 particular district, get the sheets published by the 

 Geological Survey. These will give you, on a large 

 scale, the minute geology of the neighbourhood, the 

 succession of rocks, faults, outcrops, &c. In fact, 

 you may save yourself a world of trouble by thus 

 preparing yourself a week or so before you make 

 your geological excursion. Tlie pith of these re- 

 marks applies with equal force if you purpose, first 

 of all, to examine the neighbourhood in which you 

 live. Don't do so until you have read all that has 

 been written about it, and examined all the available 

 maps and sections. This advice, however, applies 

 more particularly to geological es-dmlmxiion of strata. 

 If you are bent chiefly on palceontologieal investiga- 

 tion, that is, on the study of fossils, perhaps it will 

 be best just to read any published remarks you may 



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