Volume 1

Robert Dick : baker, of Thurso, geologist and botanist / by Samuel Smiles.

  • Samuel Smiles
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Robert Dick : baker, of Thurso, geologist and botanist / by Samuel Smiles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Many years passed. Robert Dick died in 1866. Was it possible that he had left any memoranda on which a memoir of his life and labours could be written ? On inquiry I found that many of his letters were still in existence. I believe that I have been successful in obtaining the greater part of them, or, at all events, those which are the most interesting. In fact, by means of these letters the story of Dick’s life has in a great measure been told by himself. One of his principal correspondents was the late Hugh Miller, author of My Schools and Schoolmasters, The Old Red Sandstone, and other geological works. His son, Mr. Hugh. Miller, of the Geological Survey, has kindly sent me Dick’s letters to his father; though Hugh Miller’s letters to Dick have not yet reached me. They are supposed to be in Australia. Mr. Charles W. Peach, A.L.S., one of Dick’s best friends, has sent me all Dick’s letters to him, together with much other valuable information as to his life and character. But perhaps the best of Dick’s letters— those containing his references to his private life — were those written to his sister, principally for her amusement ; and these have been kindly placed in my hands by Dick’s brother-in-law, Mr. Falconer of Haddington. IT am also indebted to Dr. Meiklejohn, to Dr. Robert Brown, F.L.S., for many letters; and to the
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