208 THE GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY 



with Eobert Hunt, Keeper of Mining Piecords ; Lyon Playfair, 

 the chemist (afterwards Lord Playfair) ; John Phillips, Professor 

 of Geology at Trinity College, Dublin ; and Edward Forbes, 

 the naturalist, his colleagues in the Geological Survey. 



The new appointment and its relation to his outstanding 

 work are discussed in the following : 



To Sir James Ross 



The object [of the Geological Survey] is to have the con- 

 nection between the plants and the geological formation 

 they occupy investigated, and the Fossil plants arranged 

 as they are collected. The first object will require my 

 visiting the ground they are surveying once or twice a year, 

 probably with Sir H. De la Beche and Prof. Forbes (who 

 are the Geologist and Palaeontologist to the Survey), and the 

 arrangement of my observations for publication, as well as 

 the directing what vegetables should be gathered for analysis. 

 The duties will leave me more than enough of time to carry 

 on my Flora as fast as the plates can possibly appear, but 

 I do not know what the Admiralty will say to my taking the 

 duty. My work has in many ways cost me already nearly 

 100, and I believe I have never made 6d. by it and never 

 shall. If the new duty were to interfere with my Flora, 

 or were my salary so good as to make me independent 

 of the Admiralty, I should not think about drawing any 

 further Admiralty pay, but as that is not the case and as 

 I have never made a farthing by my Botany work, I think 

 of making a push for the continuance of my pay when I 

 enter upon my new duties. I should feel very much obliged 

 for your opinion of how their Lordships are likely to regard 

 my views. As the new appointment is a most honorable 

 one, and one worth to me twice the income it offers, I have 

 made up my mind to accept it at all hazards, even if it 

 should entail the leaving the Service. Had I gained the 

 Edinburgh Chair I would have gone on with my Flora on 

 my own resources and have given up the Admiralty pay 

 without waiting to be asked, as a point of honor. And 



and Physiology of the Vertebrates, 1866-8, was accepted by other zoologists. His 

 bitterness against any possible scientific rival and his disingenuous attitude 

 towards Darwin and his \vork ended by leaving him isolated in the scientific 

 world. 



