ENTERS RANKS OF SCIENCE 267 



patiently split them open and arrange them along 

 the higher part of the beach, according to what 

 seemed to be the natural affinities of the fossils en- 

 closed within them. Scouring the parish for fresh 

 exposures of the nodule-bearing clay, he was soon 

 rewarded by the discovery of some six or eight 

 additional deposits charged with the same remains. 

 There was a strange fascination in this pursuit. He 

 had, as it were, discovered a new world. No human 

 eye had ever before beheld these strange types of 

 creation. Though he was well acquainted with the 

 marine life of the adjacent sea, he had never seen any 

 creature that in the least resembled them, or served 

 to throw light on their structure. 



With no chart or landmark to guide him into 

 this new domain of nature, he continued for years 

 quietly to collect and compare. The first imperfect 

 knowledge which he was able to acquire regarding 

 the few modern representatives of the creatures dis- 

 interred by him at Cromarty was derived in 1836 

 from a perusal of the well-known memoir by Hibbert 

 on the limestone of Burdiehouse. Next year, however, 

 he made the acquaintance of Dr. Malcolmson, who 

 eventually carried some of his specimens to London 

 and the Continent, and was the means of bringing 

 him into correspondence with Murchison and Agassiz. 

 Hugh Miller was thus at last placed in direct com- 

 munication with the world of science and into relation 

 with the men who were most thoroughly versed in 

 the subjects that had so long engrossed his thoughts, 

 and most capable of helping him to clear away the 

 difficulties that beset his progress. 



