i 4 FROM AN EASY CHAIR 



of the other ungulate or hoofed animals have this 

 very curious shape of tooth. It is a sort of family 

 u mark " or " feature " in okapis and giraffes, as may be 

 seen in specimens shown in the gallery of the Natural 

 History Museum, where we have now no less than 

 three fine, well-stuffed okapis and several varieties of 

 giraffe. 



7. The Great Geologists of Last Century 



The centenary of the foundation of the Geological 

 Society of London, celebrated last year, was a genuine 

 festival in the scientific world. Though geology had 

 its teachers and searchers before 1807 (Hutton and 

 Werner, and the Neptunian and Plutonic schools, 

 with their theories as to the origin of rocks on the 

 one hand by marine deposit, or on the other by 

 igneous agency, flourished before that date), yet it is 

 true that the adequate conception of the problems 

 of geology and the proper use of accurate observa- 

 tions and of judicious theory based on those obser- 

 vations, in relation to the problems of geology, 

 coincided with the foundation of the society. It 

 was not the first "special" scientific society founded 

 in London ; there was already the Linnean Society 

 (founded in 1788) for the cultivation of zoology and 

 botany. Yet it incurred the displeasure of the worthy 

 president of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, who 

 at first joined it, and then withdrew from it, when, 

 in 1809, it ceased to be a dining-club, meeting at a 

 London tavern, and acquired rooms of its own at 

 No. 4, Garden-court, Temple. Apparently there was 

 a notion in those days that the " Royal Society for the 

 promotion of Natural Knowledge,' 1 founded in 1662, 

 should exercise a sort of paternal control over any 

 society formed for the special promotion of one brancn 



