indubitably pointed towards the recurrence of damp cold epochs suitable for the rapid growth of peat, separated by epochs of a different character during which the country was overspread by a dense growth of forest. These hypotheses had long occupied the author’s mind, and he had pondered deeply over the evidence in support of them. Fuller investigation in future years was destined to bring out many striking confirmations of his opinions. It may be said that so far as his interpretation of the post-glacial history of Scotland is concerned, the most authoritative opinion of Scottish geologists at the present time is in accordance with the conclusions which he had arrived at. This alone makes the book still worth careful study by those who would appreciate the changes our islands have undergone in the most recent stages of their geological history, and though notable additions have been made to the store of accumulated observations, they readily find a place in the scheme which he has outlined. CHAPTER XII EDUCATIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORK With his appointment in 1882 to the Murchison Chair of Geology and Mineralogy in Edinburgh University to succeed his brother Sir Archibald Geikie, a new epoch began in James Geikie’s career. For some years he had been District Surveyor on the Scottish Survey, a post of considerable responsibility, and requiring the exercise of tact and firmness, but one which presented most valuable opportunities to a keen geologist. The Scottish Survey at that time had an exceptionally strong personnel, and in pure field geology was setting a standard of excellence which has rarely been surpassed. Several of his colleagues came to be recognised in the course of a few years as scientific men of the highest distinction, and among them there was a spirit of camaraderie and of friendly emulation in research which made their daily tasks a constant source of novelty and of unflagging interest. To many of his colleagues, such as Peach, Horne, Jack, Croll, Skae, and Irvine, James Geikie had been indebted for important information and for the most searching criticism, combined with unselfish appreciation of the value of his work. The ground surveyed had most of it been previously examined only in a quite unexhaustive way, and had consequently the attraction of novelty; it was also of very varied structure, and, more important from his point of view, it was rich in evidence of glacial action. No better training ground for a field-geologist who intended to devote himself to the study of glaciation could well be imagined.