Revieios — Sir A. Geilde's MemOir of Ramsay. 133 



stirred others with enthusiasm and undoubtedly exercised great 

 influence on the progress of geology. Moreover, his lectures to 

 working men formed the nucleus of his famous introduction to 

 geology, "The Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain." 



His early interest in geology, when engaged in business in 

 Glasgow, led Eamsay to undertake an original survey of the Isle 

 of Arran. This work brought him under the favourable notice of 

 Murchison, and led to his receiving an appointment on the newly- 

 established Geological Survey under De la Beche. For forty years 

 he took an active part in the work and administration of the Survey, 

 first as Assistant Geologist, then as Local Director for Great Britain, 

 later on as Director for England and Wales, and finally as Director 

 General for the United Kingdom. 



The story of his life is thus in its main incidents a history of the 

 Geological Survey with some record of its progress. Opportunity is 

 also taken by his biographer to relate many interesting facts about 

 the Museum of Practical Geology and the School of Mines, which 

 owed their existence to the energy of De la Beche. 



So far as regards the progress of the Geological Survey the 

 volume deals mainly with Ramsay's work and that of his colleagues 

 in Wales. He joined the staff in 1841 in Pembrokeshire, when he 

 was twenty-seven years of age. There the freedom of the life, the 

 active outdoor work, and its boundless interest, combined to render 

 most enjoyable the change from a Glasgow counting-house ; and for 

 a long while, "Day after day, as he went out with map and 

 hammer, it seemed to him still holiday work." 



The life of a field-geologist is often contemplated with a feeling 

 akin to envy by enthusiasts who, tied to business, are able to give 

 but a few weeks each year to outdoor geological work. They 

 picture the sunny side of survey life, and a great portion of it is 

 sunny. The geologist has, however, to carry on his work day after 

 day, for weeks and months together. He may have a pleasant 

 enough tramp in the morning across hill and dale to the tract he has 

 to examine, but after scrambling about for some six or seven hours, 

 he may have a weary march homewards laden with the stony spoils 

 of the day. Again, in the teeth of an east wind, or when any other 

 wind blows strongly, the time of the geologist is not so happily 

 spent as it might be in a tranquil atmosphere. Sir Archibald 

 Geikie gives an interesting sketch of " Life in the Survey," and 

 remarks that " the mere physical endurance which it often requires 

 is enough to tax the strength of a strong man." Moreover, as he 

 justly adds, " The isolation and loneliness at stations where no 

 congenial society of any kind is to be found, the necessity of 

 frequently moving camp to begin all the domestic experiences and 

 discomforts over again, and the poor pay for which all this drut^gery 

 has to be undergone, these and other hardships which may be easily 

 imagined test the scientific enthusiasm of a geologist." 



Pleasant it is to know that two of Ramsay's early associates on 

 the Survey are still living — Aveline, who joined the staff in 1840, 

 a year before him, and Selwyn, who was appointed iu 1845. 



