From the tumults of the town—
A score of earnest students in their frocks,
Behold the learned band,
Each with hammer in her hand
Prepared to pound to sand
All the rocks.
Prof. Geikie’s muse was also active the same summer at the dinner of the Edinburgh Royal Society Club, held in honour of Dr Nansen’s return from Greenland, where he sang a song of his own composition which met with a great reception. Its motif was the joys of Greenland as a place remote from civilisation, and a lament over the fact that, except for that happy land, “the hale round world is tounifeed.”
In this year also he was President of the Geological Section at the Newcastle-on-Tyne meeting of the British Association, and devoted his presidential address to the subject of “Glacial Geology.”
In 1891 he returned to America, this time to deliver a course of lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston. This gave him an opportunity to renew many pleasant friendships made during his previous visit, but his stay was somewhat marred by an attack of influenza. Among his papers are many notes of invitation and greeting, an interesting one being from Prof. William James, which contains careful instructions as to how the host’s house might be found, accompanied by a sketch-map.
The following year saw the publication of an important paper “On the Glacial Succession in Europe,” in regard to which the author says, in a letter to his friend Prof. Stevenson of New York:—“I sincerely believe that the conclusions will stand, no matter how extravagant they may now appear to be.” This year also he was President of Section E (Geography) at the Edinburgh meeting of the British Association, the subject of his presidential address being the “Geographical Development of Coast-lines.” Among the foreign guests at this meeting was the Norwegian botanist, Prof. Blytt, who writes to thank him “most heartily for all your great kindness to me during my stay in your beautiful city.”