EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE 365 



and taking his audience into his confidence, would 

 flash out new views that he had never communi- 

 cated to any one before. There was always some- 

 thing remarkably suggestive in his lectures. He 

 loved to put broad and striking views of geological 

 principles and theory before his audience, and sought 

 thus to excite an interest that would search for detail, 

 rather than to weary it by dwelling on the detail him- 

 self. He spoke with a good deal of facial expression, 

 his brow sometimes wrinkling with his earnestness to 

 make a point clear, and again beaming with a kindly 

 smile as he was enjoying his discourse, and felt that he 

 was carrying his auditors with him. The working 

 men used to crowd round his table at the end of a 

 lecture to ask questions, and one of them once said to 

 him, ' You are the best lecturer I ever heard in my 

 life ; and you always look so happy in it.' 



There was another form of instruction less palpable 

 perhaps than that communicated in formal prelections, 

 but not less valuable the practical training which he 

 gave to his men on the staff of the Geological Survey. 

 Those who have enjoyed that training look back 

 upon it as one of the privileges of their lives. The 

 influence of his example was contagious. A district 

 which had seemed hopelessly entangled and insuffer- 

 ably dull, after a visit from the Director came to be 

 seen in a new light. Its very difficulties grew to be 

 centres of attraction, and its dulness was changed into 

 freshened interest. That this influence has not been 

 without effect in the higher education of the country 

 will be seen from the number of men trained under 

 Ramsay who have held or now hold University chairs 

 or other educational appointments in this country 

 and in the colonies. 



