ADDRESS BY MR. MURCHISON. XXXVU 



eminent astronomer who executed it, the powerful aid of the Asso- 

 ciation has enabled him to perform, a brief statement only, comprising 

 the method employed and the general results, is given in our Trans- 

 actions the fuller details requiring, as the author mentions, a different 

 mode of publication. And this, Gentlemen, leads us to remark how 

 unfounded were the apprehensions of those who feared that this In- 

 stitution would divert the springs from which other societies are sup- 

 plied ; whei'eas the instances before us prove that their Transactions 

 have been enriched instead of being impoverished by our operations. 

 There is a further remark which we are prompted to make on the 

 work accomplished under Mr. Lubbock's superintendence, by a re- 

 ference which his report contains to a subject of great interest to the 

 science of Geology. " I conceive (he says) that the best, if not the 

 only method of investigating alterations in the height of the land above 

 the water, in any given locality where the water is influenced by tlie 

 tides, will be to examine carefully whether any alteration has taken 

 place in the value of the (tide) constants D and E for that place, the 

 height of high water being, of course, always reckoned from some 

 fixed mark in the land." The meeting will here perceive one of those 

 connexions between departments of inquiry apparently remote, which 

 show how much each is concerned in the advancement of another, 

 and ought to prevent any jealousy respecting the distribution and 

 allotment of our funds. There is, indeed, no part of the proceedings 

 of the Association which requires to be regarded with more care than 

 the disposal of its grants, and our constitution has been framed with a 

 joarticular regard to this point. In the first place, every section of 

 science has its own committee, from whose deliberations every pro- 

 posal of a grant must emanate. Secondly, these proposals are all 

 submitted to a central committee, which recommends such of them as 

 it deems unobjectionable to the General Committee for final adoption 

 or rejection. By these means the best provision has been made for 

 preserving the administration of our pecuniary resources pure, judi- 

 cious, and consistent. So far as any rule of allotment has been fol- 

 lowed, it seems to have been only to assign the largest grants to the 

 most determinate, and at the same time expensive investigations ; but 

 the Association has not deemed it expedient to restrict itself to these. 

 Whenever the committee of any section lias been desirous of confiding 

 any inquiry involving an outlay of money to a competent person, the 

 committees of revision and approval have always been anxious to 

 comply with the recommendation. The meeting will observe with satis- 

 faction that the first step towards the solution of tlie geological question 

 alluded to by Mr. Lubbock, has been taken under tlie superintendence 

 of the committee appointed for the purpose. Mr. Whewell, to whose 

 more special superintendence the conduct of this work was intrusted, 



