Issue number 43... what can I make of that? Well, mathematically, 43 is a prime number and, by coincidence, it was in 1743 that Leonhard Euler was chosen to be director of mathematics in the Berlin Academy when it was founded in the following year. Euler is, of course, known for his work on perfect and prime numbers.
A hundred years later, in 1843, Richard Owen, the Lancastrian palaeontologist, coined the word Dinosaur from the Greek deinos (fearfully great) and sauros (lizard). It was also in that year that Jean-Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce Elie de Beaumont, the French mathematician and geologist was awarded the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London. Elie de Beaumont went on to be elected to the membership of the Berlin Academy, though too late to have met Leonhard Euler.

Probably the best service that Elie de Beaumont rendered to science was in connection with the geological map of France, in the preparation of which he had the leading share. His name is also known in connection with his theory of the origin of mountain ranges, which he published at length in his three-volume Notice sur le systeme des montagnes in 1852. According to Elie de Beaumont’s view, all mountain ranges parallel to the same great circle of the earth are of strictly contemporaneous origin. The theory proved to be of more value to geological science than might be expected, for, in attempting to find facts to support what would now be considered a proposterous theory, he carried out valuable research into the structure of mountain ranges!

And here is the link to this issue of The Edinburgh Geologist! In the last issue, Spring 2004, I promised readers that we would be starting a new series on Mountain Geology. Suzanne Miller has sent me an article on Ben Nevis. In this she discusses the mountain itself, its geology and geomorphology, and its habitat and flora, which are, of course, closely related to the geology. She finishes with a history of the Observatory that operated on the summit of Britain’s highest mountain at the end of the nineteenth century and of a couple of the scientists who worked there.

I was sent an article by Helen Smailes, not an article for this magazine, nor even written by Helen, but words written in 1857 for The Scotsman, by someone who signed themselves J.N. The article described a visit to Leadhills. I have reprinted the geological part of the article and added a few editorial comments to put readers in the picture concerning geological thinking of the day.

I am grateful to Peter Dryburgh for another article, a description of the excursion that he led around the streets of Edinburgh this year. Peter led Fellows of the Society on a tour of houses, public and otherwise, associated with geologists and other famous scientists and literary figures. My thoughts on first reading the article were, ‘I now wish that I had managed to go along that evening,’ so I am glad to have the itinerary so that I can follow it myself, even though without Peter’s knowledgeable commentary.

The Scottish Stone Liaison Group (SSLG) sends me a Newsletter from time to time. There has been an interesting discussion on renewed interest in Scottish slate and I thought that readers might be interested in progress. Alan McKinney of the SSLG has brought together extracts from the Newsletters and they are published here.

The last issue of The Edinburgh Geologist featured Bill Baird’s nineteenth Strange Earth article and I am pleased to be able to publish his twentieth now. It is exactly twenty years since he published Strange Earth No 1, so this is historic in its own right. It also concerns a walk in the Scottish mountains, which brings us full circle from Suzanne’s article on Ben Nevis.

This issue’s Poet’s Corner features some verses sent to me by Gareth Peach, the great grandson of Charles William Peach. It is a poem by Robert Dick, geologist and botanist with a particular interest in fossil fish, sent to Gareth’s famous ancestor.

I received an e-mail from France, from Jean-Yves Boudet, who describes himself as an ‘arenophile’. The English translation is his own, not mine. Perhaps Fellows might like to answer his appeal for sand from all over the world!

Finally, there are the usual Geo-vineyards (this a label that I found), a review of Brian Upton’s new book, Volcanoes and the making of Scotland, and the Rocksword by Angela Anderson, with answers as usual hidden near the end of the magazine.

This issue also includes the Proceedings of the Society for the 170th session, These are now to incorporated into the autumn issues of The Edinburgh Geologist in order to make them rather more up-to-date.