ADDRESS 
RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, F.RS., F,.G.S. 
AND 
MAJOR EDWARD SABINE, V.P.R.S. 
In entering upon the duty assigned to us, we heartily congratulate 
our associates on this our second assembly in Scotland. As on our 
first visit we were sustained by the intellectual force of the metropolis 
of this kingdom, so now, by visiting the chief mart of Scottish com- 
merce, and an ancient seat of learning, we hope to double the numbers 
of our northern auxiliaries. 
Supported by a fresh accession of the property and intelligence of 
this land, we are now led on by a noble Marquis, who, disdaining not 
the fields we try to win, may be cited as the first Highland chieftain 
who, proclaiming that knowledge is power, is proud to place himself 
at the head of the clans of science. 
If such be our chief, what is our chosen ground ?—raised through 
the industry and genius of her sons, to a pinnacle of commercial gran- 
deur, well can this city estimate her obligations to science! Happily 
as she is placed, and surrounded as she is by earth’s fairest gifts, she 
feels how much her progress depends upon an acquaintance with the 
true structure of the rich deposits which form her subsoil; and great 
as they are, she clearly sees that her manufactures may at a moment 
take a new flight by new mechanical discoveries. For she it is, you 
all know, who nurtured the man whose genius has changed the tide of 
human interests, by calling into active energy a power which (as 
wielded by him), in abridging time and space, has doubled the value 
of human life, and has established for his memory a lasting claim on 
__ the gratitude of the civilized world. The names of Watt and Glasgow 
_ are united in imperishable records! 
- In sucha city, then, surrounded by such recollections, encouraged 
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