32 PARENTAGE AND YOUTH CHAP, i 



instruments, drawing materials, etc. etc., are found by 

 Government. 



* Should you feel disposed to join the Survey on 

 these terms, I would thank you to write to me to that 

 effect, directing your letter to me, Tenby, South 

 Wales, to which place I intend to remove my head- 

 quarters to-morrow. In that event, it would be desir- 

 able that you should report yourself at Tenby on the 

 ist of April, the commencement of one of our official 

 quarters. A steamer leaves Bristol for Tenby on 

 Tuesday, the 2Qth instant, so that you would only 

 remain a day or two at Tenby without your pay.' 



Though Murchison's strong recommendation may 

 have had some influence in determining the offer of 

 this appointment to the young geologist, it must be 

 remembered that De la Beche had attended the 

 Glasgow meeting of the British Association, where, 

 as one of the vice-presidents of Section C, he had 

 met Ramsay, seen his map and model, and been able 

 to form an independent judgment as to his capacity 

 for the work of the Geological Survey. 



The pecuniary prospects set forth in the Director- 

 General's letter could not be regarded as specially 

 inviting. They were much canvassed in Glasgow, 

 where the news that Ramsay was not to go to Russia 

 after all, but had been offered, and had accepted, a 

 post in the Geological Survey of this country, fell like 

 a thunderbolt in the family a few days after he had 

 left home. Mrs. Ramsay's first feeling was one of 

 bitter disappointment, and it needed all Professor 

 Nichol's powers of persuasion to convince her that 

 the situation now offered to her son might really open 

 the way to his future distinction. 



At length, having completed his outfit in London, 



