140 MEMOIR ON THE SCIENTIFIC CHAEACTER 



"Mr. Turtusk got me a separate boat, set off about half-past eleven 

 o'clock in the morning, on Friday, the 24th of September, for Staffa. 

 Some wind, the sea a little rough, wind increased, sea ran very high, 

 rowed round some part of the island, but found it impossible to go before 

 Fingal's cave, was obliged to return, landed on Staffa with difficulty, 

 sailors press to go off again immediately, am unwilling to depart without 

 having thoroughly examined the island. Resolve to stay all night. Mr. 

 Maclaire stays with me ; the other party which was there had already come 

 to the very same determination, all crammed into one bad hut, though 

 nine of ourselves, besides the family ; supped upon eggs, potatoes, and 

 milk, lay upon hay, in a kind of barn." (The party, be it remembered, 

 embraced two English gentlemen, one French savan, one Italian count.) 

 "25th. Got up early, sea ran very high, wind extremely string no boat 

 could put off. Breakfasted on boiled potatoes and milk ; dined upon the 

 same ; only got a few very bad fish ; supped on potatoes and milk ; lay in 

 the barn, firmly expecting to stay there for a week, without even bread." 



" Sunday, the 26th. The man of the island came at five or six o'clock in 

 the morning, to tell us that the wind was dropped, and that it was a good 

 day. Set off in the small boat, which took water so fast that my servant 

 was obliged to bail constantly the sail, an old plaid the ropes, old gar- 

 ters." 



With this unpromising outfit, however, the party, at 

 length, once more, reach terra firma. 



On the 29th, the tourists are at Oban, where a little cir- 

 cumstance is noted, which significantly marks the zeal and 

 activity of the collector of minerals and fossils, and the 

 light in which that devotion to geology is sometimes viewed 

 by the unscientific part of the community : 



" September 29. This day packed up my fossils in a barrel, and paid 2s. 

 Qd. for their going by water to Edinburg. Mr. Stevenson charged half a 

 crown a night for my rooms, because I had brought ' stones and dirt,' as he 

 said, into it." 



A month later we find him at Northwich : 



" October 28. Went to visit one of the salt mines, in which they told me 

 there were two kinds of salt. They let me down in a bucket, in which I 

 only put one foot, and I had a miner with me. I think the first shaft was 

 about thirty yards, at the bottom of which was a pool of water, but on one 

 side there was a horizontal opening, from which sunk a second shaft, which 

 went to the bottom of the pit, and a man let us down in a bucket smaller 

 than the first." 



In these trivial incidents we may note the character of an 

 enthusiast in pursuit of his favorite objects ; a man not to 

 be turned aside by the fear of a little personal inconvenience 

 from the attainment of his ends. In his tours on the con- 

 tinent, of which, one was made from Geneva to Italy, 

 through Tyrol, in 1792 ; one through certain parts of Ger- 

 many, in 1805 ; another in 1808, and a third from Berlin to 

 Hamburg, in 1809, are found many interesting remarks on 

 the physical features, geology, and climate of the districts 

 of country through which he passed. 



What has now been presented, may perhaps enable us to 

 judge of the animus which impelled Smithson to found an 



