COPY OF LETTER
Restaurant Schlossberg
am Starnberger See,
Sept. 23, 1894.Dear Professor Geikie,—As members of the Glacialists’ Excursion we have studied the superposition of three successive glaciations and their interglacial deposits on both sides of the Alps, and we desire to address our congratulations to the Author of The Great Ice Age and to express our regret that you were unable to be one of the party and see for yourself a series of exposures which would have a very special interest for you.—We are, with sincere regards,
Signed—
- Albrecht Penck.
- Eduard Brückner.
- Léon Du Pasquier.
- André Delebecque.
- Hugh Robert Mill, London.
- Dr Andr. M. Hansen, Kristiania.
- Dr K. Keilhack, Berlin.
- Dr S. Zimmermann, Berlin.
- Professor Dr A. Jentzsch, Konigsberg.
- Prof. Dr G. Berendt, Berlin.
- Dr Grein, Darmstadt.
- Leo Wehrli, Zürich.
- Professor Dr Wahnschaffe, Berlin.
- A. W. Pavlow, Moscow.
- Dr Willi Ule, Halle a/S.
- Prof. Dr Fritz Regel, Jena.
- Prof. A. P. Pavlov, Moscow.
- Dr Aug. Aeppli, Zürich.
- Dr F. Mühlberg, Aarau.
- E. Flournoy, Genève.
- J. Lorié, Utrecht.
- Immanuel Friedlaender, Berlin.
- Prof. A. Woeikof, St Petersbourg.
- Dr Hav. Pfeifer.
- Dugald Bell, Glasgow.
- Mrs D. Bell.
- Dr Adolf Forster, Wien.
- Dr A. Schenck, Halle a/S.
- Bernard Hobson, Manchester.
- Albrecht Penck.
- Eduard Brückner.
- Léon Du Pasquier.
- André Delebecque.
- Hugh Robert Mill, London.
- Dr Andr. M. Hansen, Kristiania.
- Dr K. Keilhack, Berlin.
- Dr S. Zimmermann, Berlin.
- Professor Dr A. Jentzsch, Konigsberg.
- Prof. Dr G. Berendt, Berlin.
- Dr Grein, Darmstadt.
- Leo Wehrli, Zürich.
- Professor Dr Wahnschaffe, Berlin.
- A. W. Pavlow, Moscow.
- Dr Willi Ule, Halle a/S.
- Prof. Dr Fritz Regel, Jena.
- Prof. A. P. Pavlov, Moscow.
- Dr Aug. Aeppli, Zürich.
- Dr F. Mühlberg, Aarau.
- E. Flournoy, Genève.
- J. Lorié, Utrecht.
- Immanuel Friedlaender, Berlin.
- Prof. A. Woeikof, St Petersbourg.
- Dr Hav. Pfeifer.
- Dugald Bell, Glasgow.
- Mrs D. Bell.
- Dr Adolf Forster, Wien.
- Dr A. Schenck, Halle a/S.
- Bernard Hobson, Manchester.
The third edition of The Great Ice Age duly appeared in the autumn of 1894, and some extracts from a letter written by Prof. Stevenson may help to show the impression produced on a fellow-worker by the contemplation of the toil involved. Prof. Stevenson says, under date 30th May 1895:—
I have been working away over your Ice Age. It is a wonder you were not frozen solid during the work. Collation and comparison of observations upon the American Carb.[6] are bad enough, but the conflicts are as nothing compared with those with which you have had to deal. I can well imagine that [you] felt as you penned the last chapter as Captain Marryat did once, when he closed the title of his last chapter with “And the author says ‘Thank God.’”
[6] That is the Carboniferous beds of North America, the work upon which Prof. Stevenson was himself engaged.
The next few years were passed in the usual round of writing and teaching. In 1896 a third edition of the Outlines of Geology appeared, and in 1898 a number of lectures and papers were collected together in book form as Earth Sculpture, or the Origin of Land-forms, which ran through several editions.
In 1897 the Edinburgh Royal Society Club entertained Dr Nansen to dinner on his return from the Fram expedition, and Prof. Geikie, who was always the life of such gatherings, sang a song of his own composition which was greatly appreciated.
Among the letters of these years, which include many to American and continental friends, is one to Prof. Stevenson from which the following passages, as representing a considered opinion, may be quoted:—
It is certainly a pity that the men who can work and would fain devote themselves to original investigation, are often prevented doing so by the necessities of life. I am not so sure, however, that some of them would do work if they were placed in an independent position.... I’m much afraid that man on the whole is a lazy beast, and needs some kind of whip or bribe to make him live laborious days.