19 
of Edinburgh, Session 1872-73. 
I have here pointed out a line of action in which the Royal 
Society may usefully exert itself. It has, indeed, done so without 
avail before now; but that was a number of years ago. Govern- 
ment may at last be roused to do justice if repeatedly appealed to ; 
and it should be remembered that we have to knock at a door, 
which in general must be well battered before it can be opened. 
Having considered the present occasion an apt one for remind- 
ing you, and through you the public at large, of the great desire 
expressed by this Society about eighteen months ago to obtain a 
thorough catalogue and scrutiny, and general concurrence in the 
preservation, of the most remarkable boulders in Scotland, I have 
asked the chairman of our Boulder Committee whether he could 
supply me with any information for the Society as to the progress 
made in this matter since the printing of the very full and able 
report of the Committee last April. Mr Milne Home agreed 
with me that the time and occasion are opportune, and has 
therefore kindly furnished me with some interesting particulars 
and general views, which I am sure you will approve of my 
having elicited, and which I shall now present very much in his 
own words. 
Mr Milne Home continues to receive from abroad assurances of 
warm sympathy on the part of Continental associations engaged 
in the same work. He has not yet received, in reply to the 
invitations issued by our Committee, any communications from 
geologists and others, who, in their wanderings last summer and 
autumn, must have had opportunities for adding to the Com- 
mittee’s stock of facts. But may I not hope that this appeal may 
even still elicit a favourable reply? In the meanwhile Mr Milne 
Home has himself acquired, by his personal exertions, so much 
new information, that we shall scarcely feel this year the want of 
communications from others. 
Desirous of carrying through in some measure the inspection of 
known boulders asked for by the Committee, Mr Milne Home 
made a tour “ through the districts indicated by the following 
towns, viz., Callender, Aberfeldy, Pitlochrie, Dunkeld, Perth, 
Forfar, Aberdeen, Forres, Elgin, Nairn, Inverness, Tain, Kin- 
gussie, Lochaber, Fort William, -Grlenelg, Tyndrum, and Killin. 
