34 president's address. 



tion, on a printed form, but which he would not afterwards 

 deem worthy of a distinct communication to the President or 

 Secretary. The holiday-like excursions of a few hours, are more 

 adapted for such brief jottings down, than for elaborate notices ; 

 and I will be glad if the experiment could be tried for a year or 

 two. As an illustration of my meaning, I will advert to arrange- 

 ments which I had. the pleasure of proposing, on two different 

 occasions, when the Club visited Allenheads. One party went 

 in quest of Botanical specimens ; another explored the interior of 

 the mines; and a third visited the out-door operations, and ex- 

 amined the general Geology of the district. Each party was 

 placed under the guidance of a conductor acquainted with the 

 localities, and with the objects most worthy of observation in 

 these several departments. Now, in every district, a similar sub- 

 division of labour may be, and frequently, in practice, is made ; 

 but, for want of preconcerted arrangement, and fitting guides, 

 not only is much time lost during the excursion, but many 

 Members are unaware of the special attractions which deserve 

 their notice. In many parts of these Northern Counties, we have 

 not only historical, but geological antiquities, deserving close 

 attention ; and among the latter, few are more remarkable than 

 the evidences of geological changes presented by apparent re- 

 mains of glacial action. A large specimen of mountain lime- 

 stone,* which was placed in this building in 1842, at the joint 

 expense of Dr. Buckland and myself, exhibits very clearly the 

 grooved and furrowed marks so frequently found in positions 

 where the hardness of the rock has sufiiced to preserve these 

 records of the passage of vast masses of ice. The investigations 

 of science, which thus extend to vastly remote periods of time, 

 are now also actively directed, to chemical researches into the 

 composition and economic uses of rocks and soils. With refe- 

 rence to these, and indeed to all studies connected with Natural 



* Tliis specimen was brought from a deep excavation, near the New Quay, at North 

 Shields, made in forming a new road from the New Quay to the Railway Station. Its 

 surface is polished, and marked with groovings exactly resembling the rocks worn and 

 polished by glaciers in Switzerland, and are dissimilar to any eflfects usually produced 

 by water. Its dimensions are 5 feet by 4 feet, about 1^ feet thick, and weighs about 

 1 J tons. 



