X 



GEOLOGICAL REFORM 



[1869] 



•' A great reform in geological speculation seems now to ha'/e 

 become necessary." 



" It is quite certain that a great mistake has been made— that 

 British popular geology at the present time is in direct opposi- 

 tion to the principles of Natural Philosopliy." ^ 



In reviewing the course of geological thought 

 during the past year, for the purpose of discovering 

 those matters to which I might most fitly direct 

 your attention in the Address which it now 

 becomes my duty to deliver from the Presidential 

 Chair, the two somewhat alarming sentences 

 which I have just read, and which occur in an 

 able and interesting essay by an eminent natural 

 philosopher, rose into such prominence before my 

 mind that they eclijDsed everything else. 



It surely is a matter of paramount importance 



1 On Geological Time. By Sir W. Thomson, LL.D. Trans* 

 actions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, vol. iii. 



206 



