150 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



Of the growth of the salmon, the^par, and the smolt, 

 And showed how each nat'ralist has been a dolt. 

 This gained him this year the Keith Medal and prize, 

 Whilst Knox, Wilson, and Jamieson opened their eyes 

 At finding the gamekeeper's salmon so far 

 Advanced to a premium, and theirs below par I ' 



As they traversed the Galloway coast to the west of 

 Nith, and explored the Piper's Cave and Needle's Eye, 

 while thinking of Dirk Hatteraick and Meg Merrilies, he 

 not the less had an eye on the syenite or felspar rocks 

 interfused with the stratified slate. 



In ascending Criffel he found first Little Fell : some- 

 what further on the Great Fell, and then Criffel above 

 both. The undoubtedly authentic origin of these names 

 as handed down by tradition he thus records : 'The 

 devil, having collected the scrapings of the earth, came 

 to lay them down in Galloway. The first pickle made 

 the Great Fell, the next the Little Fell. Then he 

 couped the basket over and left it, to form the Creel 

 Fell, or Criffel ! ' 



Further west in Galloway he met a geologist with 

 redundant locks, beard, and moustache a thing then very 

 unusual. On him he made the following epigram : 



* Medusa's head of old turned all to stone, 

 Her snake-encircled eyes did light upon. 



But times are changed : now C 's keen glance 



Would stare the mountains out of countenance ; 

 The rocks resent the unaccustomed stare, 

 And Gorgonize his golden head of hair.' 



The only other record of this summer which remains 

 is that contained in the retrospective journal so often 

 already alluded to. 



6 September. Short visit to Arran alone. British 

 Association at Glasgow. Presided at Physical Section. 

 Thence to Pitsligo, and along Banff coast to Dumphail 

 and Altyre. Met Agassiz and Buckland there. Agreed 

 to visit the glaciers with him in 1841. In October went 

 to London to consult Dr. Chambers/ 



