i8 4 9 ELECTION INTO ROYAL SOCIETY 147 



soon after as possible, that is to say, when I have got 

 rid of Gibbs and the fossils, I shall fly to the country. 

 It will probably take me all that week after Tuesday 

 to finish with Gibbs. Then I join Jukes for a few 

 days. Thereafter I shall go to the Shrewsbury 

 country, principally to look at the Silurians and traps 

 that Smyth traced in, before publishing the map. A 

 few days should do that. I then purpose taking you 

 by storm on my way to Caernarvonshire, so that I may 

 see what sort of strange ground you are on, and also 

 that we may hold a grand geological palaver. I fancy 

 it will be well-nigh the end of April ere I can reach 

 you. Where do you think you may have progressed 

 to by that time ? 



But it was the usual fate of such prospective plans 

 of work that they could not be carried out within the 

 specified time. It was the 2oth April before Ramsay 

 could leave London. He first joined Jukes, who 

 had been at work in the Staffordshire coal-field, and 

 who was now about to run some horizontal sections 

 in the Dudley district. These two friends were 

 becoming every year more closely knit together in 

 intimate friendship. Ramsay, for instance, writes : 

 * Jukes rises daily in my esteem ; he is a noble fellow.' 

 It was while this Midland work was in progress that the 

 official intimation reached Ramsay of his election into 

 the Royal Society. As far back as the 2ist April he 

 had heard from his kind-hearted chief that he was one 

 of the fifteen candidates selected by the Council. He 

 might well regard himself as fortunate in reaching this 

 honour after not more than eight years spent in the 

 active prosecution of scientific work. 



On the completion of the section -running with 



