280 MURCHISON'S LETTER. CHAP. xvn. 



"My dear Mr. Dick I send you by this mail a 

 copy of my memoir on ' The Geological Structure of the 

 North of Scotland.' It is a Great Eeform Bill which I 

 am endeavouring to pass ; and it is hard to induce old 

 mineralogical and bit-by-bit geologists to enter into my 

 views. But if the grand superposition of strata be not 

 set aside, nothing can be so clear (nothing at least that 

 I have ever seen in any county) as the A B C D ot 

 the great steps by which the geologist ascends, in pro- 

 ceeding from the west to the east coast of the north 

 of Scotland. 



" I deeply regret not to be able in my conscience to 

 go and shake hands with you this summer. The fact 

 is, that the general succession in Caithness, under the 

 administration of Peach and yourself, is quite secure. I 

 must therefore look to tracts never explored by me; 

 and being satisfied myself that the statements printed 

 in my memoir are substantially correct, I wish to test 

 them by exploring the tract between Melvich and 

 Helmsdale, which I have never yet visited. 



" The workers had very nearly completed all your 

 Herbarium before I left London, and you will have it 

 soon. Professor Ramsay is with me, and is delighted 

 with the clearness of the order of succession. He is to 

 sing ' Hammers an' Chisels an' a' ' at our next anni- 

 versary dinner. Yours very faithfully, 



" RODERICK I. MURCHISON." 



The remainder of the herbarium promised by Sir 

 Roderick reached Thursp shortly after the date of his 



