Annual Report of the Cotmcil. xxxiii 



He left the University in 1861 to become an officer of the 

 Geological Survey of Scotland, ever notable as a training- 

 ground of great geologists. Being turned by chance to the 

 mapping of the superficial deposits of sand and boulder- clay in 

 Southern Scotland, his interest was soon aroused in the varied 

 problems of glaciation, and his life-work fixed. Within thirteen 

 years, in 1874, he produced the first comprehensive work on 

 glacial geology, the " Great Ice Age," which remains to this day 

 as the classic of the subject. The volume has grown with years, 

 and its third edition, of 1894, must always rank as one of the 

 great text-books of geological science. 



In 1882 he was called to the chair of Geology in his old 

 University, and quickly established a reputation as a teacher — a 

 field of activity in which he exhibited exceptional qualification. 

 Fortunately he was gifted with a facility with the pen no less 

 than that he showed in the class-room, and the geological 

 student will long be indebted to his writings. In particular, he 

 established a standard in the illustration of his works far in 

 advance of any previously attained by other authors. While the 

 formal student will ever be grateful for such works as "The 

 Outlines of Geology " and the beautiful " Structural and Field 

 Geology," the general reader is equally indebted for the " Ice 

 Age," " Prehistoric Europe," " The Antiquity of Man," and 

 ".Mountains, their Origin, Growth and Decay." In addition to 

 these larger works, numerous smaller studies such as "Eaith 

 Sculpture" add greatly to his valued contributions to science 

 and literature. 



Geikie's work as a teacher was far from limiting his services 

 in the University. He was one of its most active administrators, 

 and the value placed on his services by his colleagues is amply 

 testified by the fact that he was retained in the post of Dean of 

 the Faculty of Science from the time of its foundation till his 

 resignation of his professorship, followed so shortly by his 

 lamented death 



Scarcely less valued than his service to geology was his 

 constant effort for the reform of geographical study and teaching. 



