[ 76 J 



made their appearance very suddenly and without any warning, 

 and disappeared in a similarly abrupt manner, having enjoyed a 

 comparatively short existence. They were all possessed of such 

 marked and distinct internal characters that we could not trace 

 between them and associated or synchronous genera any evidence 

 of the result of descent with modification, and no imperfections 

 in geological record would come to our aid to clear away the 

 difficulty. Therefore, although far from denying the possibility or 

 probability of the correctness of the Darwinian Tbeo}7, we could 

 not conscientiously affirm that the Brachiopoda, as far as we were 

 at present acquainted with them, would be of much service in 

 proving a theoi-y, which, however delightful in its conception, had 

 still to be made certain by positive and indisputable evidence, and it 

 was a subject worthy of the continued and serious attention of every 

 well-informed man of science, for the sublime Creator of the 

 universe had bestowed on man a thinking mind, therefore, all that 

 was discovered was legitimate. Science had also this advantage 

 over theology, that it was continually on the advance, and ever 

 ready to correct its errors when fresh light or new discoveiies make 

 such necessary. The importance of the study of the Brachiopoda 

 was very great, when they i-emembered that they were among the 

 they first well authenticated indications of life in this world, and that 

 had continued to be very extensively represented up to the present 

 time. They were also very abundant and characteristic fossils, by 

 which rocks at great distances could be identified, and without its 

 being even necessai-y for the Palajontologists to visit the district 

 from whence they were derived, and as we became more intimately 

 acquainted with their chai'acters, their interest and usefulness was 

 augmented. They were, as Mantell would have termed them, sure 

 medals of the creation, with the date of their appearance firmly 

 stamped upon them, and their distinctive characters so legibly 

 impressed as to defy misinterpretation. 



Mr. Davidson resumed his seat amid loud and continued 

 applause. The paper was illustrated by beautifully designed and 

 executed diagrams, by Mr Davidson himself, and specimens 

 illustrating the Bi-achiopoda wei'e exhibited. A hearty vote of 

 thanks to Mr Davidson, for the trouble he had taken in the prepara- 

 tion of the paper read, was proposed by the Chairman, Mr Alderman 

 Cox. He thought that a more than usually hearty vote had been 



