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of Edinburgh, Session 1872 - 73 . 
except in a single case, where, at the special request of a parish 
minister, they applied to the proprietor, on whose lands the 
boulder lay, to prevent the destruction of it by the tenant ; and 
this application proved successful. When the Committee proceed 
further in discharge of the same branch of duty, they may expe- 
rience some difficulty. It may, therefore, be not out of place to 
state now what has beenylone by the Boulder Committees of France 
and Switzerland on this point. 
“ These Committees have adopted several plans of conservation. 
In some cases, they have acquired a right of property in the 
boulder, by means of a regular deed, signed by the proprietor of 
the land. In some cases, the proprietor has granted this right 
only for his own lifetime. The identification of the particular 
boulder was matter of difficulty ; but this has been got over by 
describing the land on which it stands, and cutting out on one of 
its sides the letter F for France, or S for Switzerland. 
“The success of the Swiss Committee has been most gratifying. 
In the Canton of Soleure upwards of 200 boulders have been 
secured from destruction, — one of these being a magnificent block 
at Steinhof, weighing about 5000 tons. It was purchased by the 
Communal Council for L.16, and given to the Natural History 
Society of Soleure. The famous ‘ Pierre a Bot,’ near Neufchatel, 
a granite boulder from Mont-Blanc, weighing about 2000 tons, 
now belongs to the Communal Council of the Canton. The blocks 
of £ Monthey,’ which Principal Forbes described in this Society, 
have been gifted by the proprietor to the Helvetic Society of 
Natural Science. From the list appended to Professor Favre’s 
Fourth Report of last year, it appears that the Swiss Committee 
have succeeded in insuring the preservation of several hundred 
boulders; — not all of gigantic size, but each interesting for some 
other reason, such as position, historical association, or traditionary 
name or legend, or for having been made triangulation points by 
a government survey, or marking the boundary between parishes 
or cantons, or because named after distinguished alpine travellers, 
such as Charpentier, von Buch, and Venetz. 
“ It is interesting to see how cordially the objects of the Swiss 
Committee are sympathised with, not only by the government, 
local as well as general, but likewise by the people at large. Pro- 
