6 
THE HALL. 
Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S. — An original 
model, by the donor, Mr. William Davis. No. 181. 
On Murchison’s death in 1871, Professor A. C. Ramsay, who 
had been an officer of the Geological Survey for upwards of 30 
years, received the appointment of Director-General of the 
Survey, and Director of the Museum of Practical Geology. 
Ramsay was born in Glasgow, on January 30, 1814. Although 
not strictly trained for a scientific career, he acquired, as a 
young man, a strong taste for geological pursuits, mainly through 
the influence of his friend Professor Nichol. In view of the 
meeting of the British Association in Glasgow, in 1840, Ramsay 
became actively engaged in the work of local organisation ; and 
at the meeting, he exhibited and described a geological model of 
the Isle of Arran, which he had constructed from his own 
survey. This model — now exhibited in the museum— attracted 
much attention at the time ; and through the influence of 
Murchison, the young geologist was soon afterwards introduced 
to De la Beclie, from whom he received, in the spring of 1841, 
an appointment on the staff of the Geological Survey. 
In 1848, Mr. Ramsay became Professor of Geology in Univer- 
sity College, London ; but, after a very short tenure, he relin- 
quished this position in order to accept the lectureship on 
geology at the Royal School of Mines. Much of Professor 
Ramsay’s official life was spent amongst the old rocks of Wales, 
unravelling the complexities of its geological structure, and 
explaining the origin of its diversified scenery. One of his 
earliest survey memoirs was “ On the Denudation of South 
Wales,” and one of his latest works, a new edition of his 
Geology of North Wales.” Glacial geology had much fascina- 
tion for Ramsay, and in 1860, he published a popular little 
volume entitled The Old Glaciers of Sivitzerland and North 
Wales. Sir Andrew Ramsay, who received the honour of 
knighthood on his official retirement in 1881, died at Beaumaris, 
in Anglesey, on December 9, 1891. His life has recently been 
written by his successor, Sir Archibald Geikie. 
The bust of Sir A. C. Ramsay is mounted on a column of 
pink granite from Corrennie, in Aberdeenshire (No. 182). 
James Hutton, M.D. — An original bust by Patric Park. 
No. 119. 
James Hutton was born at Edinburgh, on June 3rd, 1726, 
and in 1740 he entered the university of his native city, as a 
student of medicine. Dr. Hutton devoted much attention 
to chemistry and to agriculture ; and when seeking information 
on rural economy, he appears first to have acquired a taste for 
mineralogy, and, as he himself expresses it, “ became remarkably 
fond of studying the surface of the earth.” 
In 1777 Dr. Hutton gave to the world his first publication, 
M Considerations on the Nature, Quality, and Distinctions of 
