554< Geological Society '. Anniversary Address, 1842. 



a detailed account of the position and relations of these organic re- 

 mains, the possession of a good suite of which is still a desideratum 

 in the Geological Society of London*. 



In estimating the progress of inquiry in this department of 

 geology in our own countrj% the recent work of Professor Phillips 

 upon the Pateozoic fossils of Devonshire and the adjacent tracts 

 claims our special attention, not only on account of the talent 

 which he has sliown in describing many new forms, but also on ac- 

 count of the classification which he suggests. We are already sig- 

 nally indebted to this author for inquiries in various departments of 

 geology, and especially for his volume upon the organic remains of 

 the Carboniferous Limestone. Without the previous existence of 

 that work, there might have been some difficulty in asserting that 

 the Silurian is, as a Avhole, independent of the Carboniferous system. 

 The recent inquiry is a part of his duty in a public office in which 

 he is fortunately employed, and the suggestion of which does infi- 

 nite honour to Mr. de la Beche, and credit to the government who 

 sanctioned the appointment. From Devonshire the Ordnance geo- 

 logical forces, directed by these able leaders, have moved into the 

 Silurian region. Doubtless, under such discerning eyes, and with 

 such a number of assisting hands as are now turned into this for- 

 merly deserted tract, many new forms may be expected to appear. 

 If, however, the Silurian catalogues should be much augmented 

 and enriched by the labours now so vigorously directed to that point 

 by government authority, I trust that geologists will pardon the 

 omissions and defects of the person who first toiled to unravel the 

 phsenomena of that region, assisted only by a very few of its kind 

 inhabitantsf. Such personal considerations are, however, of little 

 moment, and I pass from them to that which is of real importance, 

 the establishment of the best palaeozoic classification. 



* The geological notices in the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science, 

 consist of a description of some silicified wood from Macquarrie Plains by 

 Dr. J. D. Hooker, and a sketch of the mineral structure of the northern 

 part of Kerguelen's Land by Dr. M°Cormick, both attached to Captain 

 James Ross's expedition. The latter acquaints us that this tract is exclu- 

 sively composed of trapptean (basaltic) and metamorphic ? rocks, with the 

 exception of certain truncated and dismembered beds of coal which are 

 traceable at intervals, pretty much I presume, like the broken and isolated 

 portions of coal which are found in the trap rocks of the northern end of 

 the Isle of Skye. 



t In preparing my work I derived much assistance from a valuable ori- 

 ginal MS. on the Structure of Shropshire by Mr. A. Aikin, the earhest 

 modern geologist, who, with his associate Mr. T. Webster, worked in this 

 field ; whilst my chief co-operating friends were the Rev. T. T. Lewis of 

 Aymestry, Dr. Lloyd of Ludlow, and Mr. Davies of Llandoverey. It is, 

 however, to Mr. Lewis that I am more indebted than to any other person, 

 for he had acquired a very accurate knowledge of the order of the strata of 

 his neighbourhood before I visited it. He was, indeed, my companion in 

 the field in visiting several important localities, and as I can truly say 

 " ha:c meminisse juvat," I sincerely thank a friendly critic in the Edinburgh 

 Review, April 1841, for having dwelt upon these facts in the history of 

 the "Silurian System." 



