It is a song ? words and music ? called, I believe, La Chanson de la Moine Thrust. I saw a copy of it in the mid 1960s but when I tried to track it down over the last couple of years, I found no trace.

This was followed in the next circular by a longer letter from Alice Tyler, in which she wrote:

Within a week of seeing my letter in print, I received a copy of the song from Ms Angela Anderson of IGS in Edinburgh. She had found it in one of the scrap books, known collectively as the Grizzly Bear Books, which form an unofficial history of the IGS. And T.C. Nicholas, who heard the first performance 70 years ago, sent me details. The composer has also recorded the story of how the song came to be written [this is printed on the back of the sheet, along with a list of those present on the excursion. See below].

Armed with the words and music, I managed to record the song, so GA members at the 1983 Annual Reunion were able to hear La Chanson du Moine Thrust. It caused great interest and was played several times during the afternoon.

The ëstoryí to which Alice Tyler refers was written, as was the song itself, by Maurice Lugeon of the University of Lausanne. It tells how, after the BA meeting, a group of geologists left the ëcharming city of Dundeeí to go and visit famous localities on the foreland of the old Caledonian mountain chain. It recounts how those two ëgrand mastersí Horne and Peach led the ëstudieuse et joyeuse troupeí over the intricacies of the nappes and folds of the Moine. Peach revealed to the field party the secrets of the pipe rock and they witnessed other ëamazing phenomenaí such as the Glencoul nappe overthrust on the ëOld Boyí, the Ben More nappe and, of course, the Moine Thrust itself. Lugeon remarks that they could not see the actual ëforeheadí anywhere but that maybe ëin olden times, it reached out to where the green waves of the sea reigní.

In the evening, their headquarters were at the Inchnadamph Hotel on the shores of Loch Assynt.  During the merriment of the last evening, the 17th September, a number of the party told of their impressions of the excursion. From the top of the table, Peach regaled the company with anecdotes in his uniquely charming way. Charles Barrois of Lille University spoke and they found him, as always, ëso pleasing to hearí. Haug of the University of Paris, also took part in this ëtournament of wordsí and the Swiss geologist Albert Heim, enthused the party with some really novel ideas. A number of others spoke and then, ëthe good Dr. Horneí, having heard Lugeon  during the day singing some ëpetty coupletsí to the glory of the Moine Thrust, asked him to perform them. And so the Song of the Moine Thrust was born.

Back home, Maurice Lugeon was asked by a few friends if he could publish the song, but he felt that some of the lyrics were so bad that he had to replace them as well as  rewriting some stanzas altogether. So what we have is, in a way, the second edition of this song. Lugeon also had to write the music and was helped in this by a Mlle. Pfender, who took charge of composing the accompaniment.

In circular no 842, Alice Tylerís letter was followed by one to the GA from Donald McIntyre, then at Pomona College, California. He had been a student with Wegmann in Neuchatel in 1947. He wrote:

Wegmann was a student and successor to Emile Argand who in turn was a student of Lugeonís. Lugeon gave me several papers and photographs inscribed to his great grandson in tectonics. I treasure these precious possessions.

The following is a translation of La Chanson du Moine Thrust by Anne Burgess and Dorothy Forrester, both Fellows of the Edinburgh Geological Society:
 
 

 The song refers to a number of the alpine luminaries and their contributions. It tells how the Frenchmen Barrois and Haug and the Swiss geologist Albert Heim would have reacted had the Moine covered their own study areas. Dr Tietze, the director of the Austrian Imperial Survey (K. K.), is also mentioned. It is sad to think that within a couple of years, the governments of these countries would embroil their citizens in a War that would claim the life of at least one of the participants.

T.C. Nicholas said that Archie Don was a real ëlive wireí, whose family lived near Dundee at Broughty Ferry, and who helped to arrange the field trips for the Dundee meeting. He hired several quarrymen to excavate new exposures of the fish beds at Dura Den during the meeting, and it was his idea to take advantage of Peach and Horne and alpine luminaries to run the Assynt trip ? he made all the arrangements. Nicholas said that he would not have had a hope of getting a place on such an excursion if he had not been a friend of Archie Don.

A.W.R. Don died in Greece during the First World War, and T.C. Nicholas died in 1989, aged 101.

Sinclair Ross is a long-standing Fellow of both the Edinburgh and Glasgow Geological Societies. He was one of the co-authors of the E.G.S. publication ëAssynt, the geologists Meccaí and it was while researching this that he first came across the song and became interested in its history.

Thanks are due to Anne Burgess and Dorothy Forrester for translating the song and to Sonia Bressey for helping me with the ëstoryí on the back of the sheet.