Alpine influences on Scottish geology: sketches by Albert Heim in Henry Cadell’s 1894 notebook

In 1894 the Scottish geologist and industrialist Henry Moubray Cadell (1860–1934) visited Switzerland and met with the doyen of Alpine geology, Professor Albert Heim (1849–1937). Cadell may have arranged his trip to coincide with the 6th International Geological Congress, held that year in Zurich. Heim played a leading role in the organisation of the Congress and led a field excursion to the Glarus region, for the geological structure of which he had a controversial interpretation. Whatever the circumstances, that the two men discussed details of Alpine structural geology is made clear by sketches that Heim drew in Cadell’s notebook (Figure 1), recently rediscovered in section 5381.70 of the extensive Cadell archive held by the National Library of Scotland. Some of the sketches suggest fascinating links with contemporary developments in Scottish geology.