GEOLOGICzVL CHANGE, A2^T) TIME.* 



By Sir Akciubald Geikie, 

 Director-General of the Geolofiical ^Si(rrci/ of Great Britain. 



Ill its bciieficent projiress tlirougii these islands tlie British Asso- 

 ciation Tor the Advancement of Science now for the fourth time receives 

 a welcome in this ancient capital. Once again, under the shadow of 

 these anti(pie towers, crowded memories of a romantic past till our 

 thoughts. The stormy annals of Scotland seem to move in possession 

 before our eyes as we walk these streets, whose names and traditions 

 ha\e been made iamiliar to the civilized world by the genius of litera- 

 ture. At every tuin, too, we aie reminded, by the mouuments which 

 a grateful city has erected, that for numy generations the pursuits 

 which we are now assembled to foster have had here their congenial 

 home. Literature, philosojthy, science, have each in turn been guided 

 by the influence of the great masters who have lived here, and wliose 

 renown is the brightest gem in the chaplet around the brow of this 

 Queen of the North. 



Lingering for a moment over these local associations, we shall find a 

 jieculiar api)ropriateness in the time of this renewed visit of the Asso- 

 ciation to l<](linl»urgh. A hundred years ago a renuirkable grouj) of 

 men was discaissing here the great problem of the history of the earth. 

 James Hutton, after nmny years of travel and reflection, had com 

 numicated to the Koyal Society of this city, in the year 1785, the first 

 outlines of his fannuis Theoiy of the Earth. Among those with whom 

 he took counsel in the elaboration of his doctrines were Black, the 

 illustrious discoverer of fixed air and latent heat; Clerk, the sagac- 

 ious inventor oi' the system of l)reaking the enemy's line in naAal tac- 

 tics; Hall, whose fertile ingenuity de\ised the first system of exi)eri- 

 ments in illustralion of the structure and origin of rocks; and IMayfair, 

 Ihi'ough whose sympathetic enthusiasm and literary skill Hut Ion's 

 \ lews cauK^ ultimately to be understood and a[)preciated by the world 

 at large. With these friends, so well able to comprehend and criticise 

 his eliorts to pierce the veil that shrouded the history of this globe, he 



* Presidential Address before tlie liritisli Associatiou for the Advaueemcnt of 

 Scieuce; at EdiuburgL, xVugiist o, 18y2. {Report Brit. Assoc. A. 6'. 1S91', vol. lxii, 

 PI.. 3-L'G.; 



Ill 



