Falceontology, 343 



commonly entertained at the present day respecting the fossil 

 species of Elephant and Mastodon. As they differ in their 

 conclusions from those of Cuvier, De Blainville, and Owen, as 

 to specific differences, you will readily conclude that the proof 

 they adduce rests upon nice distinctions in anatomical struc- 

 ture ; to enter upon which would be quite unsuitable on the 

 present occasion, by even the most competent to judge of 

 questions in which such high authorities disagree. 



Conclusion. 



Although this Address has extended to so great a length, 

 those who are actively alive to what is going on in the seve- 

 ral departments of Geology, will have found many important 

 works of the past year unnoticed, many topics of interest left 

 untouched. This would not have been the case to so great 

 an extent, if I had had more time at my disposal. Even with 

 the opportunities I have had, I might have briefly noticed a 

 greater number of books published in our own and in foreign 

 countries, and memoirs contained in journals and transac- 

 tions ; but I confess to yielding to an inclination to dwell 

 upon topics that have more particularly attracted me in my 

 past geological studies. 



It is highly gratifying to see so much activity in the culti- 

 vation of our science in almost every part of the civilized 

 world ; and still more satisfactory to observe, that it has been 

 for some time past pursued in a better spirit, with a dispo- 

 sition to greater accuracy and rigour in investigation, and 

 with a more strict adherence to the rules of philosophical in- 

 quiry. When we contrast the state of Geology now with what 

 it was when this Society was established, or compare the then 

 limited extent of our knowledge of Palaeontology with the 

 wide range it now takes, and when we think of the crude 

 hypotheses and hasty generalizations, founded on the most 

 scanty and imperfect observations, which were then misnamed 

 science, we may well look back with satisfaction to the work 

 of the last thirty years, to which this Society has contributed 

 no inconsiderable share. 



It has hitherto too frequently happened, that geologists 

 have dealt with important questions of physics, chemistry, 



