ADDRESSi xlix 



the coast of Kent. Itl Ihe Gaily spring, however, it becoiiles considerably 

 colder than on the latter coast. 



My predecessor in his Address informed us of an application made to our 

 government by that of the United States, to adopt a general and systematic 

 mode of observing pbijenomena of various kinds at sea, such as winds, tides, 

 currents, &c., which may not only be of general scientific interest, but may 

 also have an important bearing on navigation. The plan proposed by Lieut. 

 Maury, and adopted by the American government, is to Jiave the required 

 observations regularly made by the commanders of vessels sent out to sea. 

 I am happy to be able to state to you that our Admiralty have given orders 

 for similar observations to be made by those who have command of English 

 vessels; and we trust also that proper persons'wili be appointed withoutdelayfor 

 the reduction of the mass of observations which will thus soon be accumulated. 



The science of Geology may be regarded as comprising two great divisions 

 ' — the physical and the palaeontological portions. The former may be subdi- 

 vided into its chemical and dynamical branches. The chemical department 

 has never made any great progress, though abounding in problems of first- 

 rate interest — such, for instance, as the formation of coal, the segregation of 

 mineral matter constituting mineral veins of all descriptions, the processes of 

 the solidification and crystallization of rocks, of the production of their jointed 

 and laminated structure, and many others. Interesting experiments are not 

 altogether wanting on points such as these, but not such as to constitute, as 

 far as I am aware, a positive foundation and decided progress in this branch 

 of the science. The problems, doubtless, involve great difficulties, both as 

 regards the action of the chemical agencies themselves and the varied con- 

 ditions under which they may have acted. The accomplished chemist alone 

 can combat the difficulties of the former kind, and the geologist those of the 

 latter. Both these characters must be united in any one who may hope to 

 arrive at the true solution of these problems. We cannot too earnestly in- 

 vite attention to this branch of geology on the part of those best qualified to 

 contend with its difficulties. 



The dynamical, or, more strictly, the mechanical department of the science, 

 has received a much larger share of attention. In fact, almost all theories 

 and speculations of geologists, independently of organic remains, belong to it, 

 and a large portion of the work of geologists in the field has been devoted to 

 the observation of pliEenomena on which it treats. Phceiiomena of elevation 

 — those immediately resulting from the action of the subterranean forces 



which have so wonderfully scarred and furrowed the face of our globe 



have been made the objects of careful research. It is to this probably violent 

 and desolating action that we owe the accessibility of the mineral sources of 

 our mining districts, as well as all those exquisite beauties of external nature 

 which the mountain and the valley present to us. The absence of all order 

 and arrangement would seem, on a superficial view, to be the especial cha- 

 racteristic of mountainous districts, and yet the nicer observations of the geo- 

 logist has detected, in such districts, distinct approximations to general laws 

 in the great dislocations and upheavals in which the mountains and the valleys 

 have originated. The more usual law in these phaenomena consists in the ap- 

 proximate parallelism of all those great lines of dislocation and chains of 

 mountains, the formation of which can be traced back to the same geological 

 epoch. That this law is distinctly recognizable throughout districts, some- 

 times of many hundred miles in extent, is clearly established, but some geo- 

 logists contend that it may also be recognized as prevailing over much larger 

 geographical areas than any single geological district presents to us. M. Elie 

 1853. d 



