MANY CORRESPONDENTS. CHAP. xxn. 



Dick seems to have had a dislike for men who went 

 out geologising or botanising in gigs ! After a hard 

 morning's work, and a long ramble round the coast, with 

 hammer and chisel, he returned, and entered the follow- 

 ing remarks : " On arriving at home, I found Dr. Hunt, 

 from London, had called. I met him on the road, in a 

 gig of course. I did not know him, nor he me." 



Dick continued to have many correspondents. They 

 addressed him from far and near, asking him for fossil 

 fish, and specimens of the Holy Grass. He provided 

 the Rev. Mr. Brodie, geologist, with some fossils, and 

 through his introduction several other geologists asked 

 for the same. Mr. George Roberts, secretary to the 

 London Geological Society, asked him to send some 

 typical specimens of the oil-bearing shales for analysa- 

 tion. " Some influential city people," he said, " are 

 quite willing to take the matter up, if the yield of 

 bituminous oil promises to be a paying one." Mr. 

 Roy, of Aberdeen, wrote to him stating that he would 

 propose him as a member of the Aberdeen Natural 

 History Society, provided he would supply him with a 

 paper on the natural history of Caithness. Mr. Alfred 

 Bell, of London, wrote him asking for a paper on the 

 Hierochloe borealis, for insertion in his Natural History 

 Circular. 



Another of his correspondents was Mr. Jamieson of 

 Ellon, who sent him an abstract of his paper on the 

 geology of Caithness. " I make mention," he said, " on 

 your authority, of the gravel hillocks near Dirlot, as 

 being the only ones that I had heard of. With regard to 



