CHAPTEE XL 



HUGH MILLER VISITS DICK. 



ROBERT DICK, by dint of continuous industry, was gra- 

 dually acquiring a notion of Caithness geology. His 

 knowledge was for the most part derived from direct 

 personal observation. He never accepted a statement 

 without having verified it himself. He saw with no 

 man's eyes but his own; he thought with no man's 

 brains but his own. Thus what he did know was thor- 

 oughly exact, accurate, and reliable. 



As you proceed from letter to letter, in his communi- 

 cations with Hugh Miller, you see him unlearning his 

 old views and learning new ones. Every ramble throws 

 some new light on the geology of Caithness. He notes 

 down everything that he sees. About the dip of Caithness 

 rocks, his observations are for the most part at variance 

 with the views of his "superiors," his "masters in 

 geology." Nevertheless, he notes down his own facts, 

 and no doubt they will by and by be confirmed and 

 adopted. 



He was very cautious in adopting conclusions. He 

 must first be quite sure of the premises. He found many 

 writers on geology starting with a theory and then mak- 

 ing the so-called facts fit into the theory. " Here has 



