Letter from James Geikie to Professor Dunn, 28 February 1887

The letter is dated 28 February 1887, at 10 Bright['s] Crescent, presumably in Edinburgh. It appears to begin, 'Dear Prof. Dunn'. Geikie regrets that he 'shall be unable to attend the Council meeting for t. night - I am not allowed to go out in the evening'. He remarks how it is 'a terrible loss to the Society in the death of our dear friend Mr. Gray!' It finishes with autograph signature, James Geikie.

There is also a printed outline map of Scotland showing principal directions of ice-flow.

Both the map and the letter (which had been pasted to the inside cover) had been extracted from a copy of Geikie's Great Ice Age and its relation to the antiquity of man (1874).

James Geikie (1839-1915) was the leading British authority on Pleistocene geology, developing the theory that during ice-ages mild inter-glacial periods interrupted the glacial period as a whole. He originated the current belief that human habitation continued in Europe throughout the glacial period. Geikie undertook classes at the University of Edinburgh while working in a printer's office. In 1861 he took up a position, with the Geological Survey, mapping glacial drift deposits in Central Scotland. This was supervised by his brother Archibald Geikie (1835-1924) whom he succeeded as the second Murchison Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

Acquired by donation in August 2013. Accession no:E2013.55.

Catalogued by Graeme D. Eddie 19 August 2013

Also within Special Collections, Edinburgh University Library, are Papers of Professor James Geikie, at Coll-99.