230 DARENT-HULME. [l872. 



than by the geology in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the beautiful northern city. 



He made a longer stay at St Andrews with his wife's 

 family, when the coast north and south of the pictur- 

 esque old university town was explored. Here also he 

 made the acquaintance of Professor Heddle the miner- 

 alogist, whose recent death has been so much deplored. 

 His search was for traces of drift, raised beaches, and 

 ice-action, and Professor Heddle's local knowledge was 

 most generously placed at his disposal. He also paid 

 a visit to the famous locality of Dura Den, observing 

 the fine cliffs of soft, yellow, Old Red Sandstone, and 

 noting that " the fishes occurred in a single bed at the 

 base." 



Prestwich returned to Darent - Hulme with, as 

 usual, many fresh observations and ascertained facts, 

 each briefly entered in a sentence or two, with its dis- 

 tinct section. He was ever eager to work up the un- 

 published notes of all his excursions, but they were 

 accumulating year by year, and, alas ! when would 

 there be time ? Each day he went backwards and 

 forwards to Mark Lane, and in addition to long hours 

 in the City, nearly four were spent in the journey out 

 and home. At the end of the day he was refreshed 

 by a walk in the garden, yet was little able to throw 

 himself into the elaboration of those geological theories 

 which were his delight to demonstrate. The wear and 

 tear of these daily journeyings, early and late, did 

 not tell injuriously on his health, on the contrary, 

 those drives through the lovely woods to Chelsfield 

 Station were beneficial ; but he begrudged the time 

 abstracted from his geology. He found that there 

 was actually less leisure for writing than when living 

 in town amid its many interruptions, and he became 



