112 Mr. Gourlie on the Fossil Plants in the Glasgow Geological Museum. 



" So the orcliideous plants, wliicli are parasitical on trees, and are 

 generally characteristic of the tropics, advance beyond the 45th degree, 

 where they were found in New Zealand by Forster. In South 

 America, also, arborescent grasses abound in the dense forests of the 

 Chiloe Isles, in lat. 42° south, where, Darwin tells us, that *they 

 entwine the trees into one entangled mass, to the height of 30 or 40 

 feet above the ground. Palm trees, in the same quarter of the globe, 

 grow in lat. 37°; an arborescent grass, very like a bamboo, in 40°; and 

 another closely allied kind, of great length, but not erect, even as far 

 south as 450V'* 



In conclusion, is it necessary in urging the establishment of our 

 geological museum on a firm basis and more extensive scale, to dilate 

 on the advantages derivable from such an institution? The cui bono, 

 which is so often addressed to cultivators of natural science by mere 

 worshippers of mammon, is quite inapplicable here, for even in their 

 eyes geological knowledge is valuable. 



The geological character of a country bears a most important rela- 

 tion to the extent of its population, — to the means whereby that popu- 

 lation is supported. If we think for a moment on the situation of our 

 native city, and reflect that the means by which we carry on with 

 advantage those manufactures which furnish employment to a teeming 

 population, we may ask if it is likely that Glasgow would ever have 

 reached its present extent and prosperity but for the valuable deposits 

 of coal, ironstone, limestone, and sandstone, with which she is every- 

 where surrounded ? This almost unlimited supply of coal and iron 

 has enabled her to stretch a hundred arms to the most distant corners 

 of the earth, and grasping the crude produce of the American shrub 

 or Caribbean grass, the silk of India or the Australian fleece, she 

 returns them to their native climes, variously and wonderfully fashioned 

 to the use of man, by their passing visit to a coal field. The present 

 may be truly said to be ** the age of iron." Our country is becoming 

 intersected by railroads in every direction, — a vast network of iron, 

 along which the panting locomotive darts with the speed of the wind. 

 Had the rocks of Clydesdale no connection with the development of 

 genius in James Watt, no influence in calling forth the energies of 

 Henry Bell ? In our own day we have seen the dominions of Nep- 

 tune invaded by Vulcan, and the "wooden walls of England" giving 

 place to bulwarks of iron ! The classic Mediterranean, the stormy 

 Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean, are now traversed by Clyde-built 

 steamers, propelled by Glasgow engines ; whilst the towering Andes, 

 and even the walls of the Celestial empire itself, reverberate with the 

 sound of paddles and piston rods, which were probably extracted from 

 the " black band " of Monkland or Gartsherrie ! 



* Lyell's Principles, vol. i. page 170. 



