CHAPTER VIII
Final Edition of “The Great Ice Age”
1889–1903
At the beginning of 1889 Prof. Geikie was awarded the Murchison medal of the Geological Society of London, “in acknowledgment of his important contributions to the geology of North Britain, and especially of his investigation of glacial phenomena.” A letter of cordial congratulation from his old friend Mr Whitaker on the award speaks of the writer’s own debt to the author, and of his adoption of a number of the latter’s conclusions. In this year also he was made a D.C.L. of Durham University.
[Photo by Elliott & Fry.
Prof. Geikie at the Age of Sixty.
At this time Prof. Geikie had added to his university work proper a course for women, who were as yet excluded from classes within the building. At the end of the course, in the spring of 1890, he took the members of the class on a long excursion to Birnam, to give them an insight into field geology. The party was a gay one, and their doings were celebrated by the leader in a series of verses, of which the first runs as follows:—
Of the Geologic Class
Sing the glorious days’ renown
When to Birnam it did pass