292 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY REORGANISED CHAP, ix 



But the number of men whom he now had to superintend 

 in England was larger than he had ever had before. 

 On reflection, he strongly disapproved of the increase 

 in the staff, and he particularly condemned the way in 

 which it was planned and carried out. Though his 

 long experience gave him a special claim to be con 

 sulted in any important changes in the organisation of 

 the Survey, he never heard anything definite as to 

 what was in contemplation until the whole scheme was 

 matured and adopted. He used to speak bitterly of 

 the difficulty of procuring the authorised number of 

 new men, for he felt sure that a good geological sur 

 veyor could not be manufactured by a board of 

 professors, nor even by a crammer, and could not be 

 discovered by any ordinary form of examination. The 

 recruit, properly equipped by his education, could only 

 acquire his fitness for duty by practical training, and it 

 was, in Ramsay s judgment, impossible with his force 

 of old hands, constituted as it was, to train at once half 

 their number of new men. He would have preferred 

 adding to the force by degrees, as good men could be 

 found and educated for their duties. 



It must be acknowledged, however, that the 

 Department of Science and Art in proposing, and the 

 Treasury in sanctioning, this great rearrangement and 

 augmentation of the staff of the Geological Survey, 

 were sincerely desirous to further the objects for 

 which the Survey was instituted. They wished that, 

 with as little delay as possible, the public should be 

 put in possession of a general geological map of the 

 whole country, and this end could not be attained for 

 many years unless the force were largely increased. 

 There was an additional reason that had much weight 

 with the Lord President of the Council. For some 



