i8;3 DISCOURSE AT ROYAL INSTITUTION 323 



Another occupation of the same winter was the 

 writing of an article on the River Po for Macmillans 

 Magazine. As his mind dwelt so much now on rivers 

 and their operations, he was led to recall what he had 

 himself seen of the workings of the Po and its 

 tributaries on the southern flanks of the Alps, and 

 over the vast plains of Lombardy. He likewise read 

 extensively the literature of that great river. The paper 

 which he now wrote was translated by Gastaldi into 

 Italian for the Bulletin of the Italian Alpine Club, and 

 separate copies of the translation were printed for the 

 Italian Government, that they might be distributed 

 widely among local authorities and others in Lom- 

 bardy. In sending a copy of the Italian version of 

 the paper to Mrs. Cookman, Ramsay told her that he 

 had * heard from Italy that the article has helped to 

 stir up the authorities there in re their duty to their 

 rivers and the people.' 



Before the Royal Institution he discoursed on 

 'Old Continents,' and sent me the following account 

 of the evening. 'I lectured last Friday [i 2th Feb- 

 ruary 1873] on " Old Continents " to a very full house. 

 As I treated it, the subject was quite new to every one 

 there, and by good luck I was in the right humour for 

 lecturing. I restricted myself to the great continental 

 epoch between the close of the Upper Silurian and the 

 end of the New Red Marl, and put all episodes in 

 consecutive order. The act of lecturing on it suggested 

 some new ideas which I did not broach, for I had quite 

 enough to do without them in an hour. However, 

 perhaps they may bear fruit in a paper for the 

 Geological.' 



Having been chosen by Murchison as his literary 

 executor, and charged with the writing of his bio- 



