332 Obituary — Thomas Francis Jamieson. 



THOMAS FRANCIS JAMIESON, LL.D., F.G.S. 

 BOKN April 26, 1829. Died May 24, 1913. 



We regret to record the death of T. E. Jamieson, of Ellon, 

 Aberdeenshire, distinguished for his researches on the glacial 

 geology of Scotland. The results of his earliest geological work 

 and of all his more important subsequent observations were com- 

 municated to the Geological Society of London, introduced in the 

 first instance by Murchison in 1858. Eour years later Jamieson was 

 elected a Eellow of the Society, and in 1898 he was awarded the 

 Murchison Medal by the Council. On that occasion, although unable to 

 be present, he wrote expressing his gratification and his "recollection 

 of the warm-hearted Sir Roderick", from whom he had received 

 much kind attention and help many j-ears ago when a young man. 



Jamieson was born at Aberdeen, and educated at Marischal College 

 during the years 1843-6, but he did not graduate. His energies 

 were now devoted to rural economy. Eor many years he was 

 Factor on the Ellon estate, and subsequently took the farm of Mains 

 of Waterton, and became widely known and respected as an expert in 

 agricultural matters. In 1862 he was appointed Fordyce Lecturer on 

 Agricultural Research in the University of Aberdeen, his services 

 being recognized in 1884 by the conferment of the honorary degree 

 of LL.D.' Meanwhile his leisure time was occupied with studies of 

 the various Drift deposits and the effects of glacial action. In his 

 first paper, on the " Pleistocene Deposits of Aberdeenshire " (read in 

 1858), he described various mounds and ridges of gravel and the 

 shells from the drifts, which in his opinion were accumulated at 

 a time when the land was 450 feet lower. Subsequently it stood 

 higher than it does now. 



In another paper (1860) on the "Drift and Rolled Gravel of the 

 North of Scotland ", he dealt more fully with the Pleistocene 

 phenomena, and for tiie first time brought forward detailed evidence 

 relating to the land-glaciation of Scotland, to the fluting, grooving, 

 and scratching of the rocks, the dispersion of boulders, etc. 

 Interesting observations were also recorded on the positions assumed 

 by pebbles in streams. 



In the same year he drew attention to the occurrence of 

 characteristic Crag shells in the Drift of Aberdeenshire, and 

 regarded the evidence as indicating a patch of Crag preserved 

 in situ. In 1882, in a further account, he gave reasons for believing 

 that the shells were derived. 



In 1 862, in a paper on the " Ice-worn Rocks of Scotland ", he pointed 

 out the great erosion by ice-action, and the presence of boulders 

 far above their parent rocks. He illustrated his remarks on land-ice 

 by reference to phenomena in Greenland and on the Antarctic 

 continent, and gave a sketch-map of Scotland showing the direction 

 of the glacial markings. 



^ For these particulars we are indebted to the Aberdeen Free Press, 

 May 26, 1913. 



