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film of organic life witli whicli tliat crust is coated — a film so 

 faint and frail and fragile in comparison to the mass of the globe 

 that it seemed as if, like the bloom on a ripe peach, the merest 

 touch might brush it away and abolish it for ever ; but a lilm that 

 was yet the enduring record of the ages, the supreme revelation 

 of the Cosmos, the line of contact between the seen and the 

 unseen universe. (Cheers.) Mr Scott-Elliot had paid to him in 

 London what no doubt he regarded, and deservedly regarded, as 

 a, very distinguished compliment ten days ago, when at the close 

 of his paper read before the Royal Geographical Society that 

 doyen and prince of African explorers, Mr H. M. Stanley, 

 complimented liim on the excellence of his work and the modesty 

 of his account of it. (Cheers.) Mr Stanley, of course, did not 

 agree witli all Mr Scott-Elliot's conclu.sions — and lie had noticed 

 that no two African explorers ever did agree with all each other's 

 conclusions— (laughter) — but he was unstinted in his praise of 

 the thoroughness of his research. He wished it had been possible 

 that another great African traveller, second only to Mr Stanley 

 — if, indeed, in some respects second to Mr Stanley — himself a 

 Dumfriesshire man like Mr Scott-Elliot, could have been there to 

 listen to his lecture, to criticise it, to extol its powers ; he meant, 

 of course, Mr Joseph Thomson. He was sure they all greatly 

 deplored the fact that Mr Joseph Thomson, after apparently 

 recovering from a long and serious illness, had been again 

 prostrated by an attack of influenza and pneumonia, and was now 

 lying at Mentone. They all sincerely hoped that the improve- 

 ment which was announced would be maintained, and that we 

 should soon see him back in health among us. (Cheers.) Mr 

 Thomson's illness two years ago came at a time when he was 

 about to reap the reward of his great labours, and but for that 

 illness he would now have been occupying a very important place 

 in xifrica. It would certainly have been an interesting feature 

 if they could have had Mr Joseph Thomson and Mr Scott-Elliot 

 on the platform together — both African explorers of proved merit, 

 both Dumfriesshire men — and, by-the-bye, Mungo Park was a 

 Dumfriesshire man — and both African explorers of the same 

 type. Both had scientific objects in view ; and it was to their 

 honour that their expeditions had been carried out without 

 bloodshed. (Cheers.) We must not conclude that their efforts 

 would have no other than scientific results ; for it was men like 

 Mr Scott-Elliot who were doing a great national service by 



