184 



and with a determination to judge of the facts for himself, without 

 regard to any pre-existing views expressed thereon either by himself 

 or by others. 



What Harkness was doing at this time may best be judged of 

 from the next letter : — 



1 6 Belgrave Square, October 14, 1870. 



My dear Harkness, 



I shall be very pleased if you bring out any paper in conjunction 

 with Dr. Hicks which illustrates the lowest depths to which Silurian Life 

 has been detected. 



I should, however, be very sorry that you took the place of Salter / who 

 in the last few years of his life was always at work in the endeavour to 

 undermine my views. From tjje days of Von Buch to those of Barrande all 

 continental geologists have given up the idea of a Cambrian scale of organized 

 beings as different from Silurian life. 



If Trilobites, whether Conoconjphe or O'enl, be associated with Linfjula, 

 it is there that the beds containing them entitle us to mark the base of 

 Silurian life. Bigsby's •'Thesaurus Siluricus," and Davidson's "Silurian 

 Brachiopoda, " have long since settled the point. 



The "Menevian" strata, etc., and the strata below it, which contain 

 these things * * however locally distinguished by different names, are 

 but the lowest-known subformations of one great series. 



As to the part of your letter that refers to the Edinburgh Chair. I have 

 made my offer provided the Geological Chair be clearly separated from that 

 of the Natural History Chair. 



You are right in your conjecture that I had Geikie in my mind's eye if 

 the first nomination be assigned to me. 



But, if ill health should prevent his accepting the offer, it would give me 

 great pleasure t^ consider you as next ; for I think you would make an 

 excellent teacher of the science in the Scottish Metropolis. 



Yours truly, 



R. I. MURCHISON. 



The results of the joint investigation of Harkness and Hicks 

 were summed up in a commnnication by the authors, and read 

 before the Geological Society soon after the date of the letter just 

 cited. 



From the date of this paper onward Harkness seems to have 

 been indulging in constant hope that the heavy burden imposed 



