13 MEMOIR OF 



after life he often recurred with pleasure to the inci- 

 dents connected with this survey; some of which, 

 though vexatious at the time, were subsequently the 

 theme of amusing anecdote. When travelling in 

 some remote districts, the unlettered inhabitants see- 

 ing him engaged in breaking the rocks with his ham- 

 mer, supposed him to be a lunatic who had escaped 

 from confinement; and on one occasion, as he drew 

 near a public house, the inmates, being informed of 

 his approach, took refuge in-doors, and closing the 

 entrance held a parley from the windows, until they 

 were at length convinced that the stranger could be 

 safely admitted. 



Incidents of this kind, and many others which 

 occurred to him, appear to have influenced the fol- 

 lowing remarks in the Preface to his Geology: "All 

 inquiry into the nature and properties of rocks, or 

 the relative situation they occupy on the surface of 

 the earth, has been much neglected. It is only since 

 a few years that it has been thought worth the atten- 

 tion of either the learned or unlearned; and even 

 now a great proportion of both treat such investiga- 

 tions with contempt, as beneath their notice. Why 

 mankind should have so long neglected to acquire 

 knowledge so useful to the progress of civilization — 

 why the substances over which they have been daily 

 stumbling, and without whose aid they could not 



