Sept. 22, 1870] 
Mr. Boyd Dawkins and Rev. Mr. Crosskey distinguished between 
the deposits produced by land ice and the later deposits contain- 
ing stones dropped from floating ice. Professor Hawkins 
insisted that the granite boulders of Lancashire and Cheshire were 
derived from Ravenglass and not from Shapfell as stated; but 
Professor Williamson and Mr. Dawkins asserted that they had 
found Shap boulders in the clay. 
On Sections of Strata between Huyton and St. Helens, exposed 
in cuttings in the railway now making between these places.—Dr. 
Ricketts 
Report on Slicing and Photographing of Fossil Corals.—Mx. 
James Thompson. The continued investigation of these fossils had 
_ added greatly to the number of species, and the prepared sections 
had exhibited indications which supplied characters by which 
recognised forms could be better distinguished and false species 
eliminated. The report was accompanied with a large series of 
slices and exquisite photographs, full of promise for the future 
students of the group. 
Reporton the Fossils of Kiltorcan.—Myr. W. H. Bailey. These 
consisted of specimens of Cyclopteris hibernica, the remains of 
Sagenaria bayleana, a freshwater shell, Anodonta jukesit a 
crustacean Profecaris mchenrict, and scales of Coccosteus and 
Glyptolepis. Mr. R. H. Scott stated that Professor Heer had 
determined the specific identity of fossils from Bear Island col- 
lected by the Swedish Polar expedition in 1869, with those from 
Kiltorcan. Mr. Carruthers had recently examined the extensive 
series of Kiltorcan Fossils at Dublin, made by Mr. Bailey. 
They supplied information regarding all the parts of the Sagenaria 
and Cyclopteris, enabling investigators to deal with them almost 
as satisfactorily as with recent plants. 
Fourth Report on the Leaf-beds of the Bagshot Series of 
Hampshire. —Mr. W. S. Mitchell. 
On the Evidences of Recent Changes of Level on the Medtiter- 
ranean Coast.—Mr. G. Maw. The coast structure, the general ab- 
sence of sea-cliffs within the straits of Gibraltar, due to the shelving 
of the contour of the land under the sea were described. The inset 
current from the Atlantic was considered as indicating a general 
subsidence of the whole Mediterranean basin. The submarine 
springs passing through channels of sub-aerial origin occurring in 
the coast caverns implied a submergence of the coast line. 
Evidences of upheaval were to be found in the lagoons and flats 
which abound on the coast of Corsica, and which are covered 
with long ridges of shingle deposited, it was believed, by streams 
which debouched on the marsh when it was submerged. Further 
at Gibraltar a great deposit of stratified sand in Catalan Bay, 
showing a submergence of 700 feet ; and at Cadiz, as well as at 
Tangiers on the opposite side of the basin, raised sea beaches 
were found. Sir Charles Lyell thought the out-set current 
balanced the inset one and destroyed the value of that current as 
supporting the notion of submergence. Prof. Busk referred to the 
memoirs of the late Mr. Smith, of Jordanhill, on the 
Mediterranean basin, and at length gave his own observations on 
the rock terraces and caverns of the rock of Gibraltar. There 
were three successive terraces exhibited only on the eastern side 
of the rock, showing that a barrier extended in recent geological 
times across the straits confining the Mediterranean to a higher 
level than the Atlantic. The changes described by Mr. Maw 
were really the last of a series indicated by the terraces at 
Gibraltar. Prof. Ansted thought the great power of enormously 
swollen streams so common in Corsica and neighbouring regions 
might account for some of the phenomena referred to by the 
author. 
On the Organisation and Affinities of the Calamites of the Coal 
Measures. —Prof. Williamson. Numerous well preserved and 
novel forms of stems of Ca/amites were described with great 
minuteness, and estimates of their systematic position, based on 
these structures, were suggested. The author described two 
forms of nodullary rays, and a third set of radiating cellular 
structure connected with nodes. He considered the phragmas 
seen on Calamite stems to indicate the attachment of the roots. | 
He suggested that this group of fossils must be separated from 
the Aguisefacee and placed in an order to which he proposed to 
join the name Ca/amitacee. Mr. Cann thus doubted whether 
systematic determinations based on stem structure were of value. 
He preferred the evidence derived from the fruit, and that had 
been determined to differ very little from the fruit of the living 
Equisetum. The various points of difference pointed out by the 
author he considered to depend upon the more highly organised 
vegetative portions of the fossils, and exogenous growth of the 
stems. Mr, Bentham insisted on the value of fruit characters 
NATURE 
423 
for determining systematic position, and urged the desirability of 
employing subgeneric names for imperfectly determined forms, 
Section D.—Biological Science—President, Prof. Rolleston, 
M.D., F.R.S. 
The President delivered the following address :— 
AMONGST the duties of the President of a Section the delivery 
of an Address has in these latter days somehow come to be 
reckoned, and that I may interpose myself for but as short a time 
as possible between your attention and the papers announced to 
you for reading upon your list, I will begin what I have to say 
without any further preface. 
I wish first to make a few observations as to the kind of pre- 
paration which is indispensable, as it seems to me as a preliminary 
to an adequate and intelligent comprehension of the problems of 
biology ; or, in other words, to an adequate and intelligent com- 
prehension of the discussions which will take place in this room 
and in the two other rooms which will be assigned to, and 
occupied by, the departments of Ethnology and Anthropology, 
and that of Physiology Pure and Proper, and Anatomy. 
Having made these observations, I propose, in the second place, 
to enumerate the subjects which appear likely to occupy pro- 
minent places in our forthcoming discussions ; and thirdly, I will, 
if your patience allows me, conclude with some remarks as to 
certain of the lenefits which may be expected, as having been 
constantly observed to flow from a due and full devotion to 
biological study. 
In the first place, then, I wish to say that though the problems of 
biology have much of what is called general interest ; that is to 
say, of interest for all persons, attaching to them, as indeed how 
could they fail to have, including as they do the natural history 
of our own and of all other species of living organisms, whether 
animal or vegetable ; some special preparation must be gone 
through if that general interest is to be thoroughly and intelli- 
gently gratified. I would compare the realm of biology to a vast 
landscape in a cultivated country of which extensive views may 
be obtained from an eminence; but for the full and thorough 
appreciation of which, if necessary, the gazer should himself 
have cuitivated some portion, however small, of the expanse at his 
feet. It is, of course, a matter of regret to think that persons can 
be found who look upon an actual landscape without any thought 
or knowledge as to how the various factors which make up its 
complex beauty have come to co operate ; how the hand of man 
is recognisable here; how the dip of the strata is visible there; and 
how this alternation is detectable in another place as the potent 
agency in giving its distinctive features; but I take it that real 
and permanent, however imperfect, pleasure may be drawn from 
the contemplation of scenery by persons who are ignorant of all 
these things. I do not think this is the case when we here deal 
with coup dail views of biology. The amount of the special 
knowledge, the extent of the special training need not neces- 
sarily be great, but some such special knowledge and training 
there must be if the problems and argumentations familiar to the 
professed biologist are to be understood and grasped by persons 
whose whole lives are not devoted to the subject, so as to form 
for them acquisitions of real and vital knowledge. 
The microscope has done very much, indeed I may say it has 
done almost all that is necessary for enabling all persons to obtain 
the necessary minimum of practical and personal acquaintance 
with the arrangements of the natural world of which I am speak- 
ing. The Glass trough used in Edinburgh, the invention of John 
Goodsir, whose genius showed itself, as genius often does show 
itself, in simple inventions, can be made into a miniature aquarium. 
I purposely use a word which calls up the idea of an indoors 
apparatus, wishing thereby to show how the means I recommend 
are within the reach of all persons; and in it, lying as it does 
horizontally and underlaid as it is by a condenser, animal and 
vegetable organisms can be observed at any and at all hours, and 
continuously, and with tolerably high magnifying powers even 
whilst undisturbed. Thus is gained an admirable field for the 
self-discipline in question. The microscope which should be 
used by preference for exploring and watching such an aquarium 
should be such an one as is figured in Gaskell’s work on the 
Microscope (p. 58, fig. 36), as consisting of a stem with a stout 
steadying base, and of a horizontal arm some nine inches long, 
which can carry indifferently simple lenses or a compound body.. 
I think of the two it is better that the aquarium should be hori- 
zontal rather than the microscope ; and those who think with me 
