Address of the President. 35 



knowledge of geology would have prevented.* In two in- 

 stances the attempts were made by sinking in the Silurian 

 rocks, deceived by the black shale beds ; and in one case the 

 mining party was so ignorant as to sink his shaft into the 

 edges of the beds. 



The age of the drift wMch covers large areas of the 

 country, the raised ridges which in some part of Dumfries- 

 shire bear the name of " Jcaims," is another point of interest ; 

 and a closer examination of this deposit, and a search for 

 anything organic, or that would indicate the presence of 

 man or the older animals, wiU. repay the inquirer. 



A close examination of our peat mosses must be under- 

 taken. Here we have an extensive area deposited under 

 various circumstances ; and while the finding of the remains 

 of our ancient animals may be calculated upon, the point of 

 greatest interest for the attention of the members is the mode 

 of the deposition and increase of the thickness of the peat, 

 and the time the deposits have taken to accumulate. It is 

 well known to many whom I address that the Antiqtdty of 

 Man is occupying a large portion of scientific inquiry as 

 well as of the general public attention, and that proofs of 

 man's greater age, at variance with the formerly received 

 chronology of the Mosaic account, by some of our highest 

 geological authorities are set down as finally established. 

 Now this opinion is based upon the position and the length 

 of time supposed to be occupied in the formation of various 

 deposits,t and among others that of Peat. The lower part of 



* Professor Bucldand in Ms graphic way, when taken to a would-be coal- 

 field, exclaimed, "They have been working in the cellars vih&n. they should 

 have been searching their garrets." 



+ Mr. J. Prestwich, in concluding a lecture at the Royal Institution, 26th 

 Febi-uary last, stated, "he considered that more time and better data were 

 required to make a sure estimate ; nevertheless, he was satisfied that the 

 evidence, as it exists, does not warrant the extreme length of time so frequently 

 supposed ; " and "the evidence, as it stood, seemed to me as much to neces- 

 sitate the bringing forward of the extinct animals towards our own time, as 

 the carrying back of man in geological time." — Meetings, Royal IiistUution, 

 February 1864, pp. 9, 10. 



