Geological Society. 297 



without example in the history of those institutions, and gone far to 

 render natural science a permanent department of general education. 



But there is one of our number, whom professional and domestic 

 occupations retain so much in a remote quarter of the country, that 

 we have seldom the gratification of his presence amongst us, though 

 his writings are in all our hands • and it is a duty, — not to Mr. Cony- 

 beare, but to the subject, and to ourselves, — to say, that among the 

 more recent causes which have accelerated the progress of Geology in 

 England, the publication of the " Outlines of England and Wales," 

 by him and Mr. Phillips, has had an effect, to which nothing since 

 the institution of this Society, and the diffusion of the geological maps 

 of England, can be compared. It is with peculiar pleasure that this 

 statement can be made in this place j since a large proportion of that 

 work has been derived from our own Transactions, and the authors 

 have long been distinguished members of our Society. Of course 

 their publication is not free from defects and inequalities, — inevitable 

 perhaps in a first edition, composed for the greater part during its 

 progress through the press : — but, regarding it as the first general 

 sketch of a country so complex as our own, it may be said without 

 fear of contradiction, that no equal portion of the earth's surface has 

 ever been more ably illustrated 5 — nor any geological work produced,, 

 which bears more strongly impressed upon it the stamp of original 

 talent for natural science. 



The object, however, of our Institution, to adopt the language of 

 the charter, is " to investigate the mineral structure of the Earth j" — 

 not to confine ourselves to the British Islands only, (and even they 

 are best illustrated by comparison,) but to extend our researches if 

 possible, to every part of the globe ; — to record the geological phe- 

 nomena of the most distant countries, as well as of our own, — and from 

 the whole, derive the laws that have regulated the structure of this 

 planet, and still influence the changes which are in progress upon it. 

 It is our good fortune, and the fact is intimately connected with 

 the commercial wealth of our countiy, that it affords a greater 

 variety of strata and of geological appearances, than most other por- 

 tions of the civilized world of such limited extent ; while the range 

 and variety of our coasts unveil the geological anatomy of England, 

 with an obviousness and convincing facility to the observer, that have 

 greatly accelerated our inquiries. The Geology of England, therefore, — 

 which, with a view only to commercial advantage, and to the com- 

 forts and conveniences of life, would have well deserved all the labour 

 that has been bestowed upon it, — acquires a new and more dignified 

 interest, when we reflect that this island is in a great measure an 

 epitome of the globe j and that the observer, who makes himself fa- 

 miliar with our strata, and the fossil remains which they include, 

 has not only prepared himself for similar inquiries in other quarters, 

 but is already, as it were, acquainted by anticipation with what 

 he must expect to find there. If, therefore, I were called upon 

 to state in what manner those who have leisure, health, and talent 

 for such inquiries, can most effectually advance the bounds of our 

 science, and increase the reputation which England has begun to ac- 

 New Series. Vol. 3. No. 16. April 1828. 2 Q quire 



