482 
Proceedings of the Boyal Society 
been kindly sent to me by Professor Favre of Geneva, show what 
is doing in Switzerland for the promotion of an object which, under 
the auspices of this Eoyal Society, I should wish to see taken up 
in Scotland. And before concluding what I have to say about the 
Swiss movement, I may refer to one circumstance which ought to 
be gratifying to Scotchmen, viz., that the Swiss naturalists retain 
a grateful recollection of what has been done by Scotchmen for 
exploring and making known the interesting physical features of 
their beautiful country. Not only have they, in specifying the 
names of geologists who have written on Switzerland, included all 
the Scotchmen who have done so, but I see in one of Professor 
Favre’s pamphlets, written in connection with this movement, 
allusion to the year 1741, “ when (he says) the English first pene- 
“ trated into the valley of Chamounix,” — “and gave to that valley 
“ a celebrity, which the previous visits of several bishops had not 
“ obtained for it.” Professor Favre records the names of these 
English visitors, and among them are “ Lord Haddington and his 
“ brother, Mr Baillie.” The pamphlet mentioning these names I 
sent to the present Earl of Haddington, that he might see the 
courteous allusion to his ancestor; and, in returning the pamphlet, 
he referred me to a paragraph in Douglas’s Peerage, which men- 
tions the fact that, in the year 1740, the Earl of Haddington and 
his brother, George, set out on their travels to the Continent, and 
were for some time located with other friends at Geneva — one 
of these being Stillingfleet, famous in his day as a naturalist, and 
who in one of his works alludes to the very agreeable reunions of his 
countrymen which took place at Geneva and the neighbourhood. 
I will next refer briefly to the steps taken in the south of 
France in co-operation with the Swiss movement. These began 
by a communication from Professor Favre to Mons. Belgrand, who, 
besides being President of the Geological Society of France, w r as 
Inspector-General of Bridges and Boads, a Government Depart- 
ment. This communication, which explained the object of the 
Swiss investigations, and also what was being done by the different 
cantonal societies and municipalities, was referred by Mons. Ber- 
trand to two members, Messrs Falsan and Chantre, to report on. 
It is from their report, the remarks of Mons. Bertrand upon it, 
and some notes of a subsequent date, published in the Transactions 
