neighbourhood of Grantham. 265 



primitive rocks, such as granite, mica schist, porphyry, hard 

 quartzose sandstone, trap, and slate. I also observed boulders of 

 mountain limestone and Caradoc sandstone with characteristic 

 fossils. None of these boulders are very large. The gravel is 

 evidently derivative, and belongs to the period of the great north- 

 ern erratic drift, so extensively distributed over the counties of 

 Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex. 

 Near Cambridge a similar gravel may be observed, but the frag- 

 ments of which it is composed are much smaller, being at a 

 gi'eater distance from their source. The gravel on Ponton Hill 

 is thirty feet thick : animal remains, so abundant in some lo- 

 calities in England, seem to be extremely scarce, for the labourer 

 who had worked there for years stated that he had never found 

 anything except a portion of a stag's horn, about ten feet from 

 the surface. At Bottisford, however, west of Grantham, there is 

 a bed of clay probably of a diflFerent age to the gravel above- 

 mentioned, containing bones of elephants, ox, deer, &c. 



Conclusion. 



Allow me, Mr. President, in conclusion (while we may justly 

 congratulate ourselves on the prosperity of our Society), to ex- 

 press a hope that each of our members will in his turn contribute 

 his share to the stock of general knowledge and new facts which 

 it is the object of our scientific meetings to promote. A good 

 dinner certainly is not a bad thing, and frequent reunions of sci- 

 entific friends are extremely delightful ; but our aim must be a 

 higher one, and we must endeavour to advance as much as pos- 

 sible those nobler and more enduring pursuits which enlarge the 

 mind and benefit our fellow-creatures. Every one, however 

 limited his acquaintance with science in general, has it in his 

 power even in his daily walks to observe the structure and na- 

 ture of the animate and inanimate world. Beautiful and varied 

 too as the wide field of nature is, it seems almost culpable to pass 

 by unnoticed the many wonders which it contains, though the 

 choicest are often hidden from the unobservant eye. Yet there 

 are flowers rich and rare, and gems of costly price, the tempting 

 rewards of meritorious zeal and diligent research. A new flower, 

 a new insect, a habit or an instinct in the higher animals not be- 

 fore noticed, may be discovered by a mere beginner, and one re- 

 corded fact is worth a thousand hasty generalizations founded on 

 mere negative evidence, or theoretical deductions. There is 

 much yet to be done, not only in geology, but in every other 

 branch of knowledge ; and truth is best elicited, and false rea- 

 sonings most satisfactorily overthrown, by an earnest, patient and 

 laborious search into the novelties and beauties of God's crea- 



Ann. ^ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. vi. 18 



