[ami] sketch of the LIFE OF DR. A. R. C. SELWYN, C.M.G. 177 



Many a knotty problem in Cambrian geology 'was discussed by these 

 masters of geology in the lovely vale of Beddgelert, where Selwyn was 

 located, ox at Llamberis, which Ramsay and Forbes made their head- 

 quarters. In 1849 Selwyn completed the survey of the rock formations 

 lying between the Snowdon range on the north and Festiniog and 

 Tremadoc on the south, and turned his attention to Lleyn peninsula 

 from Plwlheli. At Aber, and as late as December of the same year, 

 llamsay and Jukes joined Selwyn and had. a very pleasant meeting. The 

 following year saw the same trio at Merchlin in North Wales, where 

 many conferences were held on critical points touching sundry lines to 

 be drawn as boundaries between different geological formations. 



Selwyn (was an alpinist or mountain climber of no mean order. 

 From the experience gained when in the Swiss Alps it was a pleasure 

 and no eSort for him to climb the peaks and scale the heights of the 

 Snowdon range, jiot to speak of the numerous crags of the region sur- 

 rounding the same, which he traversed in his geological explorations. 

 Later in life, in the Mount Série region of South Australia, and in the 

 district surrounding ]\Iount Alexander, as well as in the Canadian 

 Eockies, he was a most intrepid climber. Ramsay states that he was 

 out on the hills with Selwyn one day (4th May, 1850) as far as the 

 cliffs under Camed Llewelyn and down, the Melynllyn and Lyndulyn. 

 Besides good work done on that day, " Selwyn executed a most perilous 

 feat of cliff climbing; a slip and he would have been slain.'^ Later, 

 while in Canada and during the Rocky Mountain excursion in connec- 

 tion with the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science in 1884, Dr. Selwyn had a most narrow escape for his life 

 at the mouth of the tunnel near the base of Mount Stephen. His 

 keen eye detected the loosening rock-mass above, his agility and won- 

 derful presence of mind led him to jump on adjoining timbers thus 

 saving his life on this occasion. 



In the closing months of 1850, after completing the North Wales 

 sections and maps and putting on the final touches in conjunction with 

 Sir Andrew Ramsay, Selwyn was next entrusted with field work in 

 Anglesey, where they crosised and carried on investigations begun by Sir 

 Henry de la Beche. It was in Anglesey that Selwyn again detected the 

 unconformity of the lowest Cambrian strata upon an older Pre-Cam- 

 brian series of schists. In this view Sir Henry supported Selw>Ti, but 

 Ramsay on this occasion differed, so that when the map was published, 

 no Pre-Cambrian rocks were showTi. In the following year (1851) 

 Selw}m was back at Dolgelly, checking a number of points and investi- 

 gating critical parts of the complex geological structure. 



