The Centenary of Hutton's c Theory 

 of the Earth' 1 



In its beneficent progress through these islands the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 now for the fourth time receives a welcome in this 

 ancient capital. Once again, under the shadow of these 

 antique towers, crowded memories of a romantic past 

 fill our thoughts. The stormy annals of Scotland 

 seem to move in procession before our eyes as we 

 walk these streets, whose names and traditions have 

 been made familiar to the civilised world by the genius 

 of literature. At every turn, too, we are reminded, by 

 the monuments which a grateful city has erected, that 

 for many generations the pursuits which we are now 

 assembled to foster have had here their congenial 

 home. Literature, philosophy, science, have each in 

 turn been guided by the influence of the great masters 

 who have lived here, and whose renown is the brightest 

 gem in the chaplet around the brow of this * Queen 

 of the North.' 



1 The Address of the President of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science at the Meeting held in Edinburgh, 1892. 



