i8 4 4 EDWARD FORBES JOINS THE SURVEY 57 



ment, he possessed a power of discerning the qualities 

 of the fellow-workers who would best serve his pur- 

 pose, and of attracting and attaching them to his corps. 

 He was always moving about with his eyes open, on 

 the outlook for the best men to co-operate with him 

 in his great scheme for the national endowment of 

 geological inquiry. After many months of delay and 

 suspense he succeeded, in the autumn of 1844, in 

 inducing the Government of the day to authorise him 

 to appoint a palaeontologist to the staff of the Survey, 

 whose special duty it should be to determine the fossils 

 found by the surveyors and collectors, and to confer 

 with these officers in the field as to the classification 

 and boundary lines of the fossiliferous formations. 

 He selected for this important post perhaps the most 

 brilliant naturalist of his day Edward Forbes, who, 

 after returning from his researches in the ./Egean Sea, 

 had been appointed Curator of the Geological Society. 

 Ramsay and Forbes had formed a friendship at the 

 Glasgow meeting of the British Association, and 

 their intimacy grew every year closer. The subjoined 

 letter is of interest here. 1 



22nd November 1844. 



DEAR RAMSAY What on earth put it into your head that I 

 could possibly be offended at anything you have lately written and 

 done ? My dear fellow, I feel most grateful to you, and it is only 

 the press of business engagements upon my change of office which 

 has prevented my writing. I can assure you I feel 10 happier 

 than I did last winter and spring, having now a fair promise of doing 

 something satisfactory for science, and getting rid of Geological 

 Society patchwork. In a fortnight I shall be altogether clear of the 

 G. S. (as an officer, that's to say), as I suppose they will make their 

 election next meeting. Ansted [see p. 7 8] will probably be the man, 

 and a better for their purpose they could not have. He'll keep up 

 the dignity of the office, and work like a brick. ... I look forward to 



1 The triangle at the end of Forbes's signature was characteristic of his early 

 days. See his Life, p. 195. 



