MT. 23.] EDINBURGH. 47 



which Mr Hutton of Newcastle l kindly furnished me, were 

 the means of making me acquainted with several pleasant and 

 celebrated men. Among others I had the honour of forming 

 Professor Jameson's acquaintance, 2 of which I hope to be able 

 to avail myself more upon a future visit. This time I merely 

 had the opportunity of spending a short half-hour with him, as 

 I wished to be in Edinburgh at eleven, and the doctor resides 

 about two miles from town. He received me very politely, 

 presented me with a few specimens, and expressed a hope that 

 I would visit him when again in Edinburgh. An interview 

 with Dr Eobson, secretary to the R S., enabled me to inspect 

 their collection of Burdiehouse [Carboniferous fossils] at their 

 rooms. A Mr Ehind was going to introduce me to Lord 

 Greenock, but he happened to be out of town. He is a great 

 coal-measure and ironstone geologist. I am anxious to compare 

 notes with him. The great analogy presented by the organic 

 remains of the limestone at Burdiehouse with those of the coal- 

 field of Shropshire made me very desirous to visit the spot, 

 which is distant five miles from Edinburgh. In order to find 

 time I walked out there with a Mr Charlton at six o'clock one 

 morning, arrived there before eight, and was much gratified with 

 the deposit and its elegant flora, still could see no proof of its 

 deposition in fresh and shallow water according to Dr Hibbert's 

 hypothesis. Many of our present geologists are too fond of 

 tossing up and down a few hundred square miles of country, as 

 though it were a carpet they were dusting : this terrestrial [crust] 

 is formed of no such pliable material. 3 



J. Prestwich to the Same. CARLISLE, uth Nov. 1835. 



MY DEAREST KATE, It is to me a source of infinite gratifi- 

 cation to have once more crossed the Border, with a prospect of 



1 Joint author with Dr John Lindley of 'The Fossil Flora of Great 

 Britain.' 



2 Robert Jameson, Eegius Professor of Natural History in the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh ; born 1774, died 1854. 



3 The evidence of intermittent subsidence is, of course, admitted (see 

 Prestwich, ' Geology,' vol. ii. p. 3) ; the fresh- and shallow- water formation 

 of the Burdiehouse limestone is not now questioned. 



