LETTERS FROM ENGLAND 289 



E. B. Tawney's letters throw further light upon this period. 

 He writes : 



BRISTOL, 1875. 



. . . There is a notice in Nature of a paper by you in the Atlantic Monthly: 

 I thoroughly agree with what you say in the extract about the English 

 Geological Survey. It fails as a teacher: it is all rule of thumb and men 

 have to teach themselves. The reason is that the School of Mines is not in- 

 timately connected with the Survey and the School is badly treated : the 

 professors take little interest in it, and lecture therefore without exciting en- 

 thusiasm : no love of learning is begotten and no esprit de corps such as there 

 is in a university. . . . 



. . . Two Memoirs arrived soon after your letter, on "Ohio-Cavern Life" 

 and "Recent Changes of Sea-Level on the Coast of Maine." They are a 

 source of pleasure to me ; reading them brings back pleasant remembrances, 

 snatches of Malvern, Val de Travers walks, in the way things jump into the 

 mind. I shall be glad to receive subsequent parts so that we may notice them 

 in the Geological Record. 



Your account of the Appalachian summer teaching of geology sounds very 

 attractive, and if you have it on again next year I shall certainly try to run 

 over and see how you manage things. It is such a novel idea to us and it 

 seems as if it might possibly be imitated here ; it would be very desirable to 

 do so. Then as you say one could go to the Buffalo meeting. Many thanks 

 for the prospectus of the Lawrence Scientific School : it appears to be a most 

 complete system of teaching. ... I should like to see some of your arrange- 

 ments or understand more of them ; you are far ahead of us, I fear. 



Again in Kentucky, Mr. Shaler writes : - 



Camp Harvard, July 4, '76. 



. . . This morning finds us climbing up to the gap-shrouded camp. 

 Seventeen days of pretty steady rain has given a natural look to things and 

 a promise of familiar days. Everything is at odds, nothing but the tents and 



some food. C has done what was expected of him, but the others have 



failed to do their duty. I hope to rush things at full pressure. ... I shall 

 get away on Saturday for a cruise to the northward ; after that I shall start 

 for North Carolina and wind up my own work as fast as possible. . . . The 

 mail here is abandoned, at least there has been none for a week. I shall have 

 to run my own line unless the government recovers its organization. I hope 

 for a letter by to-morrow, as I shall send out a searcher this evening. ... I 

 must seek still other aid from you; send two thermometers, one for use 

 in springs, costing say $3.00, Safford's Geology of Tennessee, etc., etc. 



