THE RELATIONS OF GEOLOGY.« 



Bv Prof. CiiAKi.Ks Lapwokth, LL. D., F. R. 8. 



We stand to-daj, gentlemen, at the beginning- of a new century. 

 The science of geolog}^, whose devotees we are, is one of the 3"oungest 

 of the great faniil}^ of the sciences. The years since tirst it Ix'came 

 conscious of its being are but few in number, and its struggle for 

 existence has from the tirst been incessant. Yet I doubt not that 

 there are many observers familiar with its history who woidd assert 

 that " young as it is in years, it is already old in achievements, and 

 that the roll of its discoveries and the number and extent of its con- 

 quests stand almost unrivaled for their far-reaching influence upon 

 the philosophy and the practice of mankind." 



But it is neither necessary nor dignified on our part here to-day to 

 advance or even suggest this claim. For it is not our self-esteem 

 which prompts our work, or the applause of the world that checn-s us 

 in its pursuit. Rather is it the delight in the work itself which 

 animates our labors; and it is in the s3anpathy and the appreciation 

 of our fellow-workers that we rejoice when our aim is achieved. To 

 geology and geologists do we stand or fall. 



That being so, 1 have asked myself, as your elected representative, 

 whether it would not be good for us, as a united family of geologists 

 met here together at the close of one era and the opening of the next, 

 to take stock, as it were, of the work which geology has already 

 accomplished, and note how we are prepared to face the tasks which 

 the new era will demand of our science and of ourselves. 



But self -centered though Ave may be as individual geologists, and 

 self-centered though we may consider our science, we share the com- 

 mon lot of all men, and our science shares the common lot of all the 

 sciences. As individuals we receive from our fellow-men all that 

 makes for our social well-being, and our science owes its very exist- 

 ence, and most of the conditions that make for its progress, to the aid 

 and sympath}^ afforded by its fellow -sciences. 



We have, therefore, no right to make this prospect or retrospect in 

 the family privacy of our own science without regard to the feelings 



«Anniversary address by the prenident to the (leological Society of London, Feb- 

 rnary 20, 1908. Reprinted from tlie Qnarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 

 vol. 59, i)art 2, May 22, 1903, pp. Ixvi-xcix. 



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