In 1909 his second grandchild was born, another girl, which brings from the grandfather the remark:--“Girls are far the nicest, especially when a father gets old and wants some one to bring him his slippers, or to fill and light his pipe. Boys are of no use in a family; they only make noises, damage the furniture, harass their mothers--and, in short, they are the very devil.” Writing in March to his son, he returns to the question of his resignation, saying:--“For myself, I don’t feel like resigning just yet! I can walk like any other Christian, and enjoy my work as much as ever: and my class keeps up its numbers.” In the summer he had an invitation to go to Boston to be present at the inauguration of Dr Abbott Lawrence Lowell as President of Harvard University, and at the same time to deliver another series of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston. He refused the invitation, however, though with regret, for he shrank from the long voyage across the Atlantic. Another pleasant incident of the year was the publication of Profs. Penck and Brückner’s _Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter_, which was dedicated to “James Geikie, dem Verfasser von _The Great Ice Age_, dem Landsmann von John Playfair.” One of the two authors of the book, Prof. Penck of Berlin, was, as has been indicated here, an old friend of Prof. Geikie’s. The two first met in 1883, and, as we have already stated, Prof. Penck had repeatedly acknowledged his scientific debt to the author of _The Great Ice Age_, while there was a personal tie in addition. In 1914 Prof. Penck received the Gold Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and was Prof. Geikie’s guest at the time when the presentation was made. In the summer of that fateful year, however, Prof. Penck was one of the foreign guests at the Australian meeting of the British Association, and was in Australia at the outbreak of war. In the opinion of his hosts, his behaviour, in an admittedly difficult situation, lacked the perfect “correctness” which was desirable, and this both in Australia and on the homeward journey. Some indiscretions in the way of sketching and photographing in the vicinity of military works led to his being detained for a time in London on his return. During this period he corresponded with Prof. Geikie on geological matters. After the latter’s death he wrote to Mrs Geikie from Germany a letter which, in spite of the circumstances indicated above, and in spite also of certain phrases which jar, cannot be regarded as anything but sincere. We quote from it the following passages, which form a notable tribute. The letter, it should be stated, was written in English:--