244 GEOLOGICAL SURVE Y IN SCOTLAND CHAP, vn 



an occasional day in the field with his colleagues, 

 Mr. H. H. Howell and the writer of this bio- 

 graphy, 1 who at that time, and for some years later, 

 constituted the whole staff of the Survey in Scotland. 

 There could not be a more charming companion in the 

 field than he. So long as the surveyor was untrained 

 the Director would spare no pains in going over his 

 mapping, sometimes spending almost as much time in 

 the inspection as had been occupied in the original 

 survey, and never resting satisfied until he saw that 

 the structure of the country was adequately grasped 

 and correctly mapped. In such educational visits the 

 day passed almost wholly in geological conversation 

 and discussion. But when once he recognised that 

 his subordinate was a careful and conscientious worker 

 and could be trusted, his confidence in him showed 

 itself in many agreeable ways. He would then touch 

 lightly on details, contenting himself with a look at 

 some of the more important sections, and getting a 

 clear notion of the general structure. He would 

 launch out into disquisitions on theoretical questions, 

 more especially on those which had recently been 

 engaging his attention, and would astonish his young 

 companion by the mass of information which he dis- 

 played, much of it not obtainable from books. He 

 had a singular gift of conversation, which enabled him 

 to draw out of a man who had any special knowledge 

 to impart such information as served to elucidate 

 geological questions. He not only ransacked books of 

 travel, but he questioned the men themselves who had 

 travelled, and stored up in his memory the facts, 



1 I had joined the staff in October 1855, and after some months of field-work 

 with Mr. Howell in continuing the Director's mapping in East Lothian, began 

 the survey of Midlothian in 1856. 



