34 



jVA TURE 



[May 9, 1 90 1 



on this appropriate close to his more professional work, 

 we express an earnest hope that it will be not a few years 

 before the inevitable 7fw> is written on his scientific and 

 literary career. T. G. B. 



DINNER TO SIR ARCHIBALD GEIKIE. 



"T^HE complimentary dinner to Sir Archibald Geikie on 

 -'■ May I, provided a means of giving public expres- 

 sion to the regard in which he is held, not only in the 

 scientific world, but also by leaders in other branches of 

 intellectual activity. The representative character of the 

 dinner was very noteworthy, as will be seen from the 

 following list of those present : — 



Rt. Hon. LordAvebury, Sir Archibald Geikie, Sir G.G. Stokes, 

 Bart., Sir F. Abel, Bart, Major-General Sir J. Donnelly, 

 Admiral Sir. W. Wharton, Sir John Evans, Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, Sir Henry Craik, Sir John Murray, Sir Michael Foster, 

 Sir William Turner, Sir Henry Howorth, Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir 

 Laiuler Bninton, Major General Fesling, C.B. , S. Spring-Rice, 

 C.B., Digby Pigott, C.B., Major-General McMahon, Colonel 

 Johnston, Colonel Biishe, Major Craigie, Rev. Prof. Bonney, 

 Rev. Prof. Wiltshire, Prof. T. McK. Hughes, Prof. Sollas, Prof. 

 Ray Lankester, Prof. C. le Neve Foster^ Prof. J. Geikie, Prof. 

 E. Hull, Prof. loly, Prof. Jack, Prof. Corfield, Prof. Lapworth, 



-Vf^. 





Fig. 3. — K . K 1. ir.i. . ^ ..( old se.i margins, Isle of Jun. 



Prof. Watt?, Prof. Seeley, Prof. Garwood, Prof. T. Groom, Prof. 

 G. A. 1. Cole, Prof. W. Cialioway, Prof. H. Bauerman, Prof. 

 R. A. Gregory, Prof. Evan Small, Dr. F. Moreno, Dr. W. 

 Blanfuril, Dr. P. L. Sclater, Dr. ScharfT, Dr. F. Parsons, Dr. 

 George Ogilvie, Dr. Tempest Anderson, Dr. Horace Brown, 

 Dr. Scott Keltie, Dr. Hugh R. Mill, Dr. J. W. Evans, Phipson 

 Beale, K.C., H. Arnold Bemrose, J. E. Bartholomew, E. Best, 

 F. Best, C. Borchgrevink, B. H. Brough, G. L. Craik, C. Fox- 

 Strangways, Roderick Geikie, E. e'.reenly, George Griffith, A. 

 Harker, R. S. Merries, T. V. Holmes, W. H. Hudleston, 

 R. L. Jack, D. A Louis, J. E. Marr, F. Macmillan, G. A. 

 Macmillan, H. W. Monckton, George Murray, E. T. Newton, 

 Grant Ogilvie, J. Parkinson, F. W. Rudler, A. Strahan, H. J. 

 Seymour, J. J. H. Teall, C. Tookey, W. Whitaker, H. B. 

 Woodward, Martin Woodward. 



The list shows that the different public departments 

 with which the Geological -Survey is most closely con- 

 nected were well represented, including the Treasury, 

 Admiralty, Board of Education, Local Government Board, 

 Board of Agriculture, Ordnance Survey, Scottish Edu- 

 cation Oflice, Stationery Office and British Museum. 

 There were likewise present the professors of geology in 

 London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Dublin and 

 Birmingham, together with numerous other Fellows of 



NO. 1645, '^'OL. 64J 



the various learned societies. Letters, telegrams and 

 addresses of felicitation were received from all parts of 

 Europe and America. The following telegram from 

 Christiania was read by the chairman : " Also from 

 Norway's mountains an echo of the cheers for the master 

 of English geology — Brogger, Helland, Nansen, Reusch, 

 Vogt." 



Lord Avebury, in proposing the healtli of the guest of 

 the evening, said : — 



Sir Archibald was educated at the Royal High School and 



University of Edinburgh, which must indeed be very proud of him. 



He commenced his official career in 1855, when, at the early 



age of nineteen, he w.as appointed to a post on the Geological 



Survey, and in 1S67 was made director for Scotland. In 1871 he 



became professor of geology at Edinburgh, and held the post till 



1881, when he resigned it on his appointment as director-general 



of the Geological Survey and director of the Museum of Practical 



Geology in Jermyn Street, which he has since held with credit 



to himself and great advantage to geological science. Every 



one would admit (i) that the Geological Museum was a model 



museum, (2) that the Geological Survey has been admirably 



managed and that Sir Archibald has organised a splendid staff, 



(3) that the maps and memoirs of the Geological Survey are 



admirable contributions to science and an honour to all concerned. 



Sir Archibald was one of the first field geologists to realise the 



value of microscopic sections of rocks, and under his superinten- 



dance some thousands of slides were m.ide and .added to the 



Jermyn Street Museum. Under his able 



successor, whom we all congratulate on his 



appointment, we may be sure that this 



branch of the science will not be negelcted. 



Besides his official duties Sir Archibald 

 has contributed to the progress of science 

 ity much original work, comprising nearly 

 100 separate memoirs ; to scientific educa- 

 tion by his primers and text-books, which 

 are models of clearness : to scientific 

 literature by his admirable " Text-book of 

 Geology," his " Geological Sketches at 

 Home and Abroad," " Founders of Geo- 

 logy," " Memoir of Ramsay," '* Life of E. 

 Forbes," " Life of Murchison," &c. 



Others also of his books are important 



as contributions to science, and also in 



rendering it more accessible and more 



interesting to the general reader, such as 



his charming "Scenery of Scotland" and 



"The Ancient Volcanoes of Britain." These 



seem to me models of what such books 



should be, combining, as they do, scientific 



accuracy with a love of scenery, and the 



power of description in happy and expressive 



words, for Sir Archibald combines with the 



striking qualities of a geologist those of an enthusiastic lover 



of nature. He is an artist in two senses, both with pen and 



pencil, for his sketches add much to the vividness and clearness 



of his writings. 



Our countrymen have not always received fair play from 

 foreigners, but I am happy to say that, among men of science at 

 any rate, the most friendly and harmonious relations exist ; we 

 cordially acknowledge the splendid services they have rendered 

 to science, and recognise that, in this respect at any rate, our 

 international relations are pleasant and harmonious. For this 

 also we are greatly indebted to Sir Archibald Geikie. 



Sir Archibald is now retiring from his official duties, and the 

 additional leisure which he will enjoy will in great measure, we 

 may be sure, be devoted to the prosecution of geological re- 

 search. 



He has received many well-deserved honours. He was made 

 F.R.S. before thirty; has been vice-president and foreign 

 secretary of the Royal Society and received a Royal Medal ; also 

 ihe Macdougal-Brisbane Medal of the Royal Society of Edin 

 burgh, and the Wollaston and Murchison Medals of the Geo- 

 logical Society. He is an associate of most of the chief academies 

 of Europe and America, D.C.L. of Oxford, D.Sc. of Cambridge 

 and Dublin, and LL.D. of Edinburgh and St. Andrews. He 

 received the honour of knighthood in 1S91. 



But it is not merely to do honour to a great geologist that we 



