2ET. 46.] SWITZERLAND. 115 



I was at Grays a short time since, and have made a good be- 

 ginning with the plants. I return there again in 2 or 3 weeks 

 to reap, I hope, a further harvest, having set all the people to 

 work, and Mr Meeson having kindly given all the necessary 

 orders to his workmen, and taken charge of all specimens. I 

 went also to Ilford for the same object, but at present without 

 success. I am going again, having a pit opened in the meantime. 

 Yours very truly, J. PRESTWICH. 



Our geologist's movements were so rapid that the 

 expedition to the Continent, and also that to Banwell 

 (in Somerset) and Grays (in Essex), were doubtless 

 made before he set out on the 2nd July 1858 on a 

 journey of exploration in the Swiss Alps, which ex- 

 tended over several weeks. He was not accompanied 

 by any English friend, but was frequently joined by 

 Swiss geologists. Much as he delighted in working 

 with friends and sharing with them his matured 

 views, yet, on new ground or in face of any unsolved 

 problem, he preferred to think out the difficulties 

 and every aspect of the case alone. 



The contents of a note-book for July and part of 

 August were intended to serve as data for projected 

 papers on glacial action. 



The first few days were occupied with railway cut- 

 tings and in quarries in the neighbourhood of Neu- 

 chatel. Accompanied by M. Desor, the geologist, and 

 by M. de Pury, the husband of his cousin Henrietta 

 Blakeway, Prestwich visited the Val de Travers in the 

 Jura. The great stratified beds of gravel on the way 

 to Berne were of special interest, and M. Studer pointed 

 out to him the most striking geological features in its 

 vicinity. 



At Basle he had the advantage of the society and 

 advice of another eminent Swiss geologist, M. Peter 



