AN ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS, &c. 409 
progress, and will ever entitle it to honourable distinction in the an- 
nals of nations, finally, affords us the most conclusive evidence that 
when a people accustomed to liberty—by whom an ardent love of 
freedom is considered the brightest gem that can adorn the brow— 
fight for their rights, no opportunities are afforded to shallow-minded 
fanatics to indulge their wild and speculative fancies, neither will they 
be permitted to divert the people from their object, and involve both 
friend and foe in one common ruin. 
An ACCOUNT or tote PROCEEDINGS or tot FRENCH 
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, purine THEIR MEETING 
at PORRENTRUY, Seprremser, 1838. 
Ir will no doubt be a gratifying thing to all those who are either 
ruminating on, or anticipating, some great meeting of British sa- 
vans, to hear that the method of managing such affairs seems pretty 
much the same on all occasions, and that the heinous offences of eat- 
ing and drinking are not committed by Englishmen only, but also by 
French, Swiss, and German wise people, all of whom seem equally 
to enjoy the hospitable board and the cheerful bottle. 
Trusting to be able to make out this point, though, I must own, 
rather in despair at the amount of geology that will be forthcoming, 
I proceed to give a narrative of a most amusing week that I spent 
this last autumn in the north-west of Switzerland, while jour- 
neying to the town of Porrentruy, during my short sojourn there, 
and in company with the members of the society, while making an 
expedition southwards—an expedition which resembled more the 
triumphal progress of some public characters, than the quiet and 
simple travel with which geologists are accustomed, hammer in 
hand, to visit and patiently examine an unknown or interesting 
district. 
Before proceeding with my story in order, it may be as well to 
say a few words, both on the French Geological Society itself, and 
also on the place of meeting selected, the latter more especially, 
because it is in an out-of-the-way corner of Switzerland, very sel- 
dom visited by travellers, and many persons would not know where- 
abouts on the map to look for it. If, however, the reader will take 
VOL. 1X., NO. XXVII. 52 
