388 PALEONTOLOGY AND EVOLUTION xi 



lands, which gradually increased in extent up to, 

 and in some directions after, the Miocene epoch. 



It is in favour of this hypothesis, I think, 

 that it is consistent with the persistence of a 

 general uniformity in the positions of the great 

 masses of land and water. From the Devonian 

 period, or earlier, to the present day, the four 

 great oceans, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Antarc- 

 tic, may have occupied their present positions, 

 and only their coasts and channels of communi- 

 cation have undergone an incessant alteration. 

 And, finally, the hypothesis I have put before you 

 requires no supposition that the rate of change in 

 organic life has been either greater or less in 

 ancient times than it is now ; nor any assumption, 

 either physical or biological, which has not its 

 justification in analogous phenomena of existing 

 nature. 



I have now only to discharge the last duty 

 of my office, which is to thank you, not only 

 for the patient attention with which you have 

 listened to me so long to-day, but also for the 

 uniform kindness with which, for the past two 

 years, you have rendered my endeavours to per- 

 form the important, and often laborious, functions 

 of your President a pleasure instead of a burden. 



END OF VOLUME VIII. 



