PROCEEDINGS 
OF THE 
ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
vol. vi. 1868-69. No. 79. 
Monday , 1 5th February 1869. 
Dr CHRISTISON, President, in the Chair. 
At the request of the Council, Mr Geikie gave the fol- 
lowing Address on the Progress of the Geological Survey 
of Scotland * 
Before proceeding to the special subject of this address, I have 
thought that it might be of interest to the Society to lay before 
them a brief outline of the history of geological map-making in 
Scotland, previous to the time when the task was undertaken by 
the Geological Survey. I do not, indeed, presume to enter upon any 
general retrospect of the literature of Scottish geology, but will 
content myself with selecting for remark a few of the more eminent 
contributors, on whose labours the present general geological maps 
of the country are based. These maps are compiled from the results 
obtained by many different geologists, working independently dur- 
ing the last fifty or sixty years. Some of the men whose researches 
have in this way been made use of, never themselves produced any 
map, but their descriptions of the districts traversed by them served 
afterwards as a basis for the maps of others. 
The first geologist who attempted to map any large district of 
* As a rule, the results of the Geological Survey are not published until 
they appear in the proper official form. When, however, the Council of the 
Royal Society requested me to give an account of the progress of the Survey, 
I felt that the ordinary rule might here with much advantage be set aside ; 
and on referring the matter to the Director-General, Sir Roderick Murchison, 
he took the same view, and cordially gave his assent. 
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