VOL. XIV.(2) THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS 85 
there were high up above the level of the sea, and the 
generally accepted explanation was that they were relics of 
the Noachian deluge. Indeed, the true and _ practical 
significance of fossils was not realised till William Smith 
showed that each group of strata had its own characteristic 
fossils. This discovery revolutionised geology, and has 
enabled us to a great extent to understand the order of 
events from the earliest known stratified rocks. When 
the great importance of the discovery was realised, it 
called forth from the contemporaries of William Smith 
the most unqualified praise and the well-merited title of 
“Father of English Geology.” Another great exponent 
of the principles of geology at the commencement of the 
last century was Hutton, who taught that the past history 
of our planet is to be explained by what we may learn of 
the economy of Nature at the present time. The 
researches of the “Challenger” expedition and the infor- 
mation derived from dredgings generally have given to 
science a fund of knowledge respecting the deposits and 
processes now going on beneath the sea, and comparison 
with the deposits of former periods support the teaching 
of Hutton. 
From information obtained from dredging we find that 
strata are now in the process of formation on the floor of 
the sea. Among these the following may be mentioned :— 
(1) Calcareous deposits, the result of the collection on 
the floor of the sea of the shells, tests, and skeletons of 
marine organisms. One of the most interesting of these 
deposits is that of the “globigerina ooze,” so called from 
the fact that it is largely made up of a form of foraminifera 
known as globigerinze. The ooze occurs at an average 
depth of 2,002 fathoms, but the foraminifera are chiefly 
pelagic; (2) Pteropod ooze, chiefly made up of the 
remains of shells, which occurs at depths between 390 
and 1,525 fathoms, the average depth being 1,049 fathoms ; 
