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congenial tastes, they might revive that zeal and 

 industry which once animated the labours of those 

 valuable and respectable institutions. The Geolo- 

 gical Society has ventured a step further : possess- 

 ing " all the freshness, the vigour, and the ardour 

 " of youth, in the pursuit of a youthful science, 

 " it has succeeded/* says Mr. Babbage, in his 

 spirited Reflections on the Decline of Science in 

 England, " in a most difficult experiment, that of 

 " having an oral discussion on the subject of 

 " each paper read at its meetings." 



Dr. Fitton, F.R.S. and P.G.S., in his address; 

 delivered in February, 1828, has given such 

 an interesting and convincing account of these 

 discussions, and of the utility to be derived from 

 them, that I should do injustice to him and to 

 the subject, were I to attempt to abridge it. 

 After congratulating the society On the good 

 feeling by which its meetings had always been 

 characterized, he speaks of the " self-command 

 " that" (to use his own language) " renders 

 " both agreeable and instructive the conversations 

 " (I will not call them discussions much less 

 " debates) with which it is now our practice to 

 " follow up the reading of memoirs at our table, 

 "and which have given to our evening meetings 

 " a character more like that of social intercourse 

 " in a private circle, than of the formal proceed- 

 " ings of a public body. This practice I know 



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