In 1856 he gave it up and moved St Andrews as Assistant Professor. A popular teacher, he also supported student activities. All students were male then, but Heddle admitted Elizabeth Garrett (later Britain's first woman doctor) to his class only for the University to forbid her attendance. Heddle continued to champion women's education. Heddle was plagued throughout his life by financial problems. His private chair was badly endowed and his Classical colleagues expelled chemistry from the MA curriculum. As student numbers steadily declined Heddle correctly predicted that the very existence of St Andrews University depended on creating a science faculty in Dundee. The book contains a full and vivid picture of University and social life in St Andrews from 1856 to 1897. 

 

Throughout his life Heddle dedicated himself to mineralogy. A precocious talent, in Edinburgh he mixed in exalted scientific company that included such figures as Sir David Brewster. He was elected President of the Edinburgh Geological Society aged only 23. Personal field work was the secret of his success. Heddle explored every part of Scotland's mainland and islands before they had been properly mapped. He worked with the major figures of British geology in the years when the mysteries of the structure of Scotland were still unsolved. He co-founded the Mineralogical Society in 1876 and in 1879 the Royal Society of Edinburgh awarded him its prestigious Keith Prize. A concomitant of Heddle's mineralogy activities was his unparalleled knowledge of Scotland's landscape. He was greatly admired by Sir Hugh Munro who, when Heddle died in 1897, said that he had climbed more of Scotland's 3000' mountains than any other man. An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to Heddle's hill-going life. 

 

Heddle was married with ten children. He was a modest, principled man who was sometimes a thorn in the side of the University. He shied away from self promotion but had many friends in all walks of life. He was at his best among small groups of friends who he entertained with his story-telling and practical jokes. He was generous with his knowledge, sharing it with peers and public alike. When he retired Heddle went to the Transvaal goldfields where he exposed the fraudulent claims of his new employer and promptly returned to St Andrews. His later years were as energetic as those of his youth. He still engaged in fieldwork, and in St Andrews was active in the Literary and Philosophical Society. 

 

After his wife died in 1891 he secured the future of his mineral collection and worked on his great book. All but complete at his death it was published posthumously. This Heddle biography has 270 pages, with nine chapters, supporting appendices and index. There are 50 colour illustrations in two 8-page sections, and further black-and-white illustrations in the text.