288 NOTICES OF THE MEETINGS [April 4, 
the inhabitants, and only known by scientific inquiry. If, on the 
other hand, it was brought about in two millions of years according 
to the other standard before alluded to, the rate would be only six 
inches in a century. But the same movement taking place in an 
upward direction would be sufficient to uplift a portion of the earth’s 
crust to the height of Mont Blanc or to a vertical elevation of three 
miles above the level of the sea. In like manner, if a large shoal be 
rising, or attempting to rise, in mid-ocean at the rate of six 
inches or even four feet in a hundred years, the waves may grind 
down to mud and sand and readily sweep away the rocks so 
upraised as fast as they come within the denuding action of the 
waves. A mass having a vertical thickness of three miles might 
thus be stripped off in the course of ages, and inferior rocks laid 
bare. So in regard to volcanic agency a certain quantity of lava is 
poured out annually upon the surface, or is injected into the earth’s 
crust below the surface, and great metamorphic changes resulting 
from subterranean heat accompany the injection. Whether each of 
these effects be multiplied by 50,000, or by half a million or by two 
million of years, may entirely decide the question whether we shall 
or shall not be compelled to abandon the doctrine of paroxysmal 
violence in ancient as contrasted with modern times. Were we 
hastily to take for granted the paroxysmal intensity of the forces 
above alluded to, organic and inorganic, while the ordinary course of 
nature may of itself afford the requisite amount of aqueous, igneous, 
and vital force, (if multiplied by a sufficient number of centuries,) 
we might find ourselves embarrassed by the possession of twice as 
much mechanical force and vital energy as we require for the pur- 
poses of geological interpretation. [C. LJ 
GENERAL MONTHLY MEETING, 
Monday, April 4. 
WixiiAm Pots, Ese. M.A. F.R.S. Treasurer and Vice-President, 
in the Chair. 
William Bigg, Esq. Sir Jas. Matheson, Bt. M.P. F.R.S. 
Peter Carthew, Esq. William Pinney, Esq. M.P. 
Stephen Martin Leake, Esq. John White, Esq. 
were duly elected Members of the Royal Institution. 
De Burgh Birch, M.D. C. W. Stokes, Esq. 
W. Ernst Browning, Esq. John N. Tweedy, Esq. 
Alexander Duncan, Esq. Alexander Williamson, Esq. 
John Line, Esq. 
were duly admitted Members of the Royal Institution. 
