390 The Nicol Memorial. 



and have been driven westwards in successive slices, so that 

 crystalline gneiss and schist are made to rest upon fossiliferous 

 strata of Cambrian age. But Nicol's main contention was proved 

 beyond doubt that there is no conformable sequence in the North- 

 West Highlands from the quartzites and limestones into the overlying 

 schists. In grappling with the structure of this old mountain chain 

 there can be no question that Nicol displayed the qualities of a great 

 stratigraphist.^ 



Since the publication of the results of the Geological Survey 

 work, that region has been visited by many of the leading geologists 

 in Europe and North America, who have been profoundly impressed 

 with the light which it throws on the building of an old mountain 

 chain by folding and terrestrial displacements. 



It is a source of genuine pleasure to me to present this memorial 

 on behalf of the subscribers to you, Mr. Principal, for the pre- 

 liminary report on the geology of the Durness-Eireboll district, 

 published in Nature in 1884 by my old friend and colleague 

 Dr. Peach and myself, led to the final abandonment of the 

 Murchisonian hypothesis. 



In the custody of yourself and your successors it will recall the 

 labours of one whose namfe is inseparably linked with the solution 

 of one of the great problems in British geology. 



The following is a brief abstract of Professor Nicol's life, taken 

 from his obituary by Professor Lapworth (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 

 1880, Proc, pp. 33-6), and may serve to show the leading features 

 in his career and explain the silence which marked the latter years 

 of his strenuous life. 



More than a century ago James Nicol was born at Manse of 

 Traquair, Peeblesshire, in 1810. His father, the Eev. James Nicol, 

 was well known for his poetical writings. After his father's death 

 in 1819, young Nicol lived with his family in Inverleithen, where 

 his early education was completed by the Rev. Mr. Pate. His 

 rambles amid the bold and picturesque scenery of the district led 

 him early to study its geology. The absence of fossils and of clear 

 sections in these old rocks directed Nicol's attention more especially 

 to their mineralogical aspect, still further encouraged by his 

 subsequent attendance on the classes of Professor Jameson. He 

 entered the University of Edinburgh in 1825, where, after passing 

 the Arts and Divinity courses, he went to Germany and studied at 

 the Universities of Berlin and Bonn. On the conclusion of his 

 University training he returned to Scotland, and devoted himself to 

 the geology of the valley of the Tweed, and in 1841 he was awarded 

 prizes by the Highland Society for his essay on the Geology of 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xii, 1857, pp. 17-39, with sections ; and 

 C. Lapworth, "Theory of Professor Nicol " : Geol. Mag., 1888, p. 123. 



