298 Geological Society. 



every step j but new and loftier subjects of contemplation are con- 

 tinually rising up before us j so that as yet we have no glimpse of 

 the furthest boundary to our prospects and our labours. And in all 

 this there is a perpetual motive for combination and energy and hope, 

 and for the exercise of all those faculties which are called forth in the 

 great journey of discovery. 



We have indeed neither the time nor the power to slumber j and, 

 in spite of ourselves, we cannot but partake of that forward movement 

 by which all our neighbours are borne along. The continental press 

 teems with admirable works on every department of natural history j 

 and our subject has obtained, to say the least of it, its full share of 

 consideration. Professor Hoffman's map, alluded to in my former 

 address, will soon be illustrated by a work which promises fair to 

 make the north of Germany once more the classic land of geology. 

 The excellent Memoirs of MM. de Beaumont and Dufrdnoy will 

 soon be followed by the Geological Map of France, a great national 

 work, to appear, I hope, before the expiration of this year. I select 

 these subjects, not merely on account of their general importance, 

 but because they have an immediate relation to the structure of this 

 country, and to the best labours of our own body. 

 ' The organization of the Geological Society of Paris belongs to the 

 history of the preceding year : and when we consider the incompa- 

 rable collections of that capital, and the illustrious naturalists who 

 are there assembled, we confidently look to this association for results 

 which shall greatly affect the future history of our science. With 

 ordinary fortune it can hardly fail to become a great central point of 

 union, where geologists from all the nations of Europe may from time 

 to time meet together with no rivalry but in the love of truth. 



Our studies, Gentlemen, have no part in those bad passions by 

 which mankind are held asunder; the boundaries of tribes and 

 nations are blotted out from our maps; the latest revolutions we treat 

 of are anterior to the records of our race, and compared with the 

 least of the monuments which we decipher, all the works of man's 

 hand vanish out of sight. If we have advanced with a vigorous 

 step for the last fifteen years, it has been during the peace of the 

 civilized world. The foundations on which we build are so widely 

 parted, that we require nothing less than a free range through all 

 the kingdoms of the earth ; and if any thing should occur to 

 cloud our prospects or retard our progress, it must be accom- 

 panied by some moral plague which will desolate the face of Eu- 

 rope. Against the visitation of such a calamity, every man whom 

 I now address will join with me in heartfelt aspirations. 



Geology is a science of observation : and it is a humiliating fact, 

 forced upon us at every step of our progress, that the material 

 combinations we investigate and attempt to classify are too rude 

 and ill defined to be regarded as the appreciable results of any 

 simple law of nature. Some great and simple problems in physics 

 have however so immediate a connexion with the structure of the 

 earth, that we may almost claim their solutions for our own. 



The 



