272 FOREIGN TRA VEL CHAP, vm 



It was published in The Times also, and I thought it 

 a pity to let it be supposed that my theory led to such 

 extravagance. 



I do not suppose you will find fault with the 

 paper on the ground that it wants boldness. When 

 it was read Dr. Falconer of Indian-fossil-elephant 

 celebrity made an onslaught on it of forty minutes. I 

 observe that most of the men older than myself re- 

 pudiate it, while most of the younger bloods accept 

 it. Lyell rejects, but then I have Darwin, Hooker, 

 Sir William Logan, Jukes, and Geikie. When I ex- 

 plained the theory to Sir William before it was read, 

 he said : ' If you don't publish it for America, I will.' 



So strong was the opposition among the older and 

 more staid fellows of the Geological Society that 

 Ramsay used to assert that had he not been the 

 President, and thus in a manner privileged, the 

 Council would have voted against the publication of 

 the paper, except in briefest abstract. 



Before the end of the first week in September 

 1862 Ramsay was glad to escape once more from 

 London to Switzerland. There were various geo- 

 logical matters which he longed to investigate more 

 fully, and as he went this time with only his friend 

 Dr. Sibson, an accomplished mountaineer, he was free 

 to arrange his route as the work to be done might 

 require. Making straight for Geneva, the travellers 

 first went to Bex, and rambled once more among the 

 blocks of Monthey. The weather proved most un- 

 favourable for mountain-climbing, and after waiting 

 some days in rain and mist, they resolved to move 

 into the sunnier clime of the Italian side. Crossing 

 by the Sanetsch Pass from Gsteig to Sion, they were 



