THE ORIGIN OF CORAL REEES. 65 
of land between the coast line and 100 fathoms, very much greater 
than between that depth and 500 fathoms. That, in part, may be 
due to wave action, and in part due to the bank being sunk down, 
as in the case of Newfoundland. These shores may have been extended 
by breaker action, There are so many subjects raised, that, had I 
the time, I could say a great deal more. 
Mr. W. H. Hupizstoy, F.R.S. &c.—Those who have spoken 
are very well acquainted with corals, and have been in those 
mighty oceans where corals grow. I am unable to speak with 
a similar advantage; but, at the same time, I think there are 
many points in Dr. Guppy’s paper, which we have heard to-night, 
and also in his book, which I have read with very great interest, 
which have an important bearing on geological questions. So far 
as I can see, one of the great objections to the Darwinian or sub- 
sidence theory, is the very great thickness of coral which was sup- 
posed to be now forming in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. I 
believe that something like 2,000 feet of massive coral-rock is 
supposed to be the thickness in some places. In the old geological 
formations there is nothing of that kind to be seen. We know 
nothing of great thicknesses of that sort, and, according to geo- 
logical calculation, the coral masses which are upon the Solomon 
Islands, and perhaps on others similarly situated, instead of being 
solid accretions of coral-rock, 1,000 or 2,000 feet in thickness, as 
has been hitherto supposed, are simply a veneer or facing of coral, 
perhaps 200 feet thick, upon the upraised oceanic muds and vol- 
canic materials which really constitute the bulk of such islands. 
That seems to be very much more in accordance with what took 
place in former days in the various formations of the earth’s 
crust. I am afraid that in some cases geologists have exhibited 
a certain amount of unwillingness in accepting these corrections. 
It may be that Darwin, Dana, and other high authorities have 
not accepted the views now propounded, and indeed they are not 
bound to yield to every change of theory ; but so far as I can see— 
and I have thought so for a long time—Mr. Murray’s views, sub- 
ject to modification, are gaining ground slowly but surely, and 
those views, adopted as they have been by many practical men of 
great experience, and ably illustrated as they have been by Mr. 
Guppy in his writings, and in what he has said this evening, demand 
attention in the most conservative centres of scientific thought. 
Captain Francis Petrie, F.G.S. (Hon. Secretary)—Some MS, 
communications have been received in regard to this paper. 
FP 
