1855-1856 CORRESPONDENCE WITH J. W. SALTER 237 



surveyors was at work, so that he might have the 

 relaxation of an occasional day in the field. Thus 

 part of the winter of 1855-56 was spent at Chelten- 

 ham, where Mr. E. Hull was at that time stationed, 

 and where Ramsay saw much of his valued friend, 

 Thomas Wright, so widely known for his admirable 

 labours among the Jurassic echinoderms and ammon- 

 ites. In later years he pitched his autumn camp 

 in Scotland. 



Among the colleagues with whom he had to 

 consult continually and in great detail was J. W. 

 Salter, whose remarkable knowledge of Palaeozoic 

 fossils was of essential service in working out the 

 stratigraphy. But with all his knowledge, it was 

 not always easy to obtain from this palaeontologist 

 the definite information which the field-men required. 

 In particular, there was at this time a struggle to 

 get him to draw up tables or lists of the fossils 

 actually named from each locality and horizon. 

 Without these it was clearly impossible to make 

 progress either with the revision of the field-work, 

 or with the preparation of the Memoir. Many 

 were the remonstrances and entreaties addressed to 

 him by Ramsay on the subject. The following 

 letter may serve as a sample : 



CHELTENHAM. $vth January 1856. 



MY DEAR SALTER I shall be up to the Anniversary, 

 and shall hear your paper. 



I have not lost my interest in the South Wales 

 question. Quite the reverse ; for it occupies most of 

 my Silurian thoughts. I have thought much over it, 

 and latterly talked over it with Talbot, and formed my 

 conclusions, which, in many respects, are not dissimilar 



