49 



tablishment has increased the opportanities of mutual acquaint- 

 ance and united labour amongst the Members resident in the 

 different districts. 



There can be no doubt that the Geology alone of each of 

 these districts, as now occupied, affords an ample field of opera- 

 tions ; and it is impossible to witness the rise of these numerous 

 local societies without being struck by the prospect of the im- 

 mense accession they promise to the scientific knowledge of the 

 areas they represent, an advantage likely to be rapidly extended 

 to the whole kingdom. I only wish — and 1 will take the liberty 

 of here expressing it — that some medium more central and com- 

 prehensiye might be made available, than the annual reports of 

 each separate society, for giving to those acquisitions to our 

 knowledge a form more easily accessible, and condensed, such as 

 has suggested itself to me on looking over the various papers 

 that have been printed, (to say nothing of those of equal value 

 that have been read but not printed,) in the detached form of 

 publication which the nature of the Societies at present ne- 

 cessitates. 



The Clubs that I have named have already a certain bond 

 of union in the reciprocal acceptance of the officers of each as 

 honorary Members of all. The path is therefore open for a joint 

 publication of the most valuable discoveries and papers of each 

 Society during the year, which might also include a list of tho 

 whole of the places visited by each. The expense of such a pub- 

 lication jointly borne by the associated Societies would be but 

 trifling, while the form of publication would enchance the cha- 

 racter of the papers themselves and the importance of the meet- 

 ings in a general point of view. The very nature of Geological 

 study suggests such a co-operation, because its working out can- 

 not, like the boundaries of a County, be limited by any artificial 

 line, but radiates through and across the districts of several or all; 

 like the medullary rays which traverse the annular rings in the 

 growth of wood, connecting each year's deposit with the central 

 pith, and ensuring the iinited structure and solidity of the whole 

 stem. 



