prehident's address. 207 



remains. In the Oolite they" performed a conspicuous part as 

 the nuclei of the egg-shaped particles of which it is composed. 

 But in the Chalk their prodigious numbers bewilder us. The 

 cliffs of the Kentish coast seem entirely made up of fossil 

 Foraminifera. We are told that we speak within bounds when 

 we say that each cubic inch contains the remains of a million 

 individuals ; and we know that the same formation extends over 

 thousands of square miles in the S.E. of England and N.W. of 

 France, to an average thickness of a thousand feet. Then the 

 Tertiary formations ; the Eocene of the Paris basin, the Miocene 

 of Vienna or San Domingo, the Pliocene of Central Italy, of 

 Spain, or of our own Coralline Crag, and the Pleistocene every- 

 where, all of them present us with specimens of infinite beauty 

 and in the utmost abundance. A few remarks followed, relative 

 to the forms found on our own coast, collated chiefly from the 

 gatherings of Mr. Alder and Mr. Brady himself. The mode of 

 collecting, and the best localities for search, were also briefly 

 touched upon. In conclusion, Mr. Brady said that he had often 

 thought, when employed over these most interesting objects, 

 that the lines of Wordsworth seemed to be specially written for 

 naturalists — or, at least, that none can endorse the sentiment 

 they convey more fully : — 



Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 

 Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, its fears; 



To me, the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 



A large number of illustrated mounted specimens were placed 

 upon the table, under microscopes suitably arranged for their 

 exhibition ; and thus was brought to a close an address of great 

 interest, to which I feel that I have done the scantiest justice. 



Mr. Thomas Thompson exhibited a specimen of Omniastrephes 

 todarus (one of the cuttle fishes), found at Tynemouth. 



Dr. Embleton exhibited, much to the interest of the members, 

 a human skull, and also the skull of a cod-fish, beautifully 

 articulated by Mr. James Flower, of London, in such a manner 

 that they could each be shown as a whole, or in separate sec- 



VOL. IV. PT. III. • 2 B 



