GEOLOGY IN THE ASSOCIATION 191 



GEOLOGY IN THE ASSOCIATION 



With reference to the general relation between the 

 Association and geology, and especially in connexion 

 with research, Sir Archibald Geikie has very kindly 

 contributed the following paragraphs to this record. 



6 The activities of the British Association may be 

 grouped in four divisions, by each of which the pro- 

 gress of geology has been advanced both in scientific 

 effort and in popularity : 



' (1) The fundamental object of the founders of the 

 Association, to foster in the community an interest 

 in and an acquaintance with science in its various 

 branches, by holding annual meetings hi different 

 towns all over the United Kingdom, has certainly been 

 successful in the case of geology. Many examples of 

 this influence might be cited. Cavern-exploration may 

 be quoted as an instance. At the time when the 

 question of the antiquity of man was first engaging 

 public attention, the remarkable evidence by the high- 

 level gravels of the Somme valley formed an attractive 

 subject of discussion in Section C. At the Aberdeen 

 meeting in 1859 Sir Charles Lyell announced his belief 

 that man, as shown by his rudely shaped implements 

 of flint, was contemporary with the mammoth and 

 other long-extinct species of animals. Some years 

 afterwards the reports of the exploration of the caves 

 of the Torquay district drew crowded audiences to 

 the geological section. For some fifteen years this 

 annual attraction continued to fill the meeting-room 

 and to familiarise the public with the nature of the 

 evidence, the objects found being exhibited. It 

 was shown that in the lower part of the material 

 which had accumulated on the floor of Kent's 

 Cavern a rude type of flint tools was found associated 



