196 The Scottish Naturalist. 



take many years, but naturalists build not for themselves alone, 

 but for their successors ; and to them work is, or ought to be, its 

 own reward. Now, what is the nature of that work in which we 

 are called upon to engage ? We do not, of course, suppose that 

 the aim and end of this Union is simply to obtain a complete cen- 

 sus of all the rocks, minerals, fossils, and species of plant and ani- 

 mals, occurring in the East of Scotland. Many of us, it is true, 

 find our chief delight in the important and essential work of col- 

 lecting and cataloguing ; and it is well that it should be so. 

 Others, however, will not rest satisfied with observations, but by 

 the very constitution of their minds, are compelled to ask them- 

 selves what these observations mean. In illustration of this I need 

 go no further than the President's address last year. His intimate 

 knowledge of the plant-life of the basin of the Tay has only been 

 acquired after long years of careful exploration, during which, few 

 if any species can have escaped his notice ; and we see how var- 

 ious features in the distribution of those plants have incited him 

 to ask how and why certain forms occupy their present habitats. 

 From observing the plants themselves he has been led to inquire 

 into the origin of their distribution. This is one of the high ques- 

 tions to the solution of which the various Societies of this Union 

 are expected to contribute. Hitherto these higher lines of re- 

 search and thought have been followed by only a few inquirers ; 

 and the data at the command of each have necessarily been more 

 or less limited. Hence our knowledge of the origin of the geo- 

 graphical distribution of British plants and animals has not ad- 

 vanced so rapidly as that of other branches of natural science. 

 Some general sketches we have had, sketches often suggestive and 

 inspiring, but the details neeessary for an exhaustive review of the 

 subject are still lacking. What I conceive then to be one of the 

 chief aims of this Union, is the careful and exhaustive collection of 

 data, which shall render possible the elaboration of a complete 

 natural history of the East of Scotland. This history will begin 

 with the geology of the region ; and will trace out the gradual evol- 

 ution of the land — showing what changes in geographical and 

 climatic conditions have taken place from time to time, since the 

 oldest of our aqueous rocks began to be laid down, pointing out 

 how the configuration of the surface, the nature of the soil, the 

 drainage and even the climate of the present, are dependent upon 

 the rocks and the mode of their arrangement. Not only so, but 



