TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 1013 
Sorby that wondrous assemblage of minute cavities containing liquids, and led him, 
shortly before our previous meeting here, to write his paper ‘On the Microscopical 
study of Crystals, indicating the origin of Minerals and Rocks ’—a paper which has 
indeed proved epoch-malking in the history of geology. 
Before concluding the remarks which by your kindness I have been permitted 
to offer you to-day, I cannot forbear from indulging in a pleasant reminiscence of 
a personal character. Nearly fifteen years have passed away since I first visited 
the Highlands for the purpose of geological study ; it was at that time I first found 
myself at liberty to put into practice a scheme cherished by me from boyhood, 
that of studying those Secondary rocks and fossils of the Highlands, among 
which such valuable pioneer work had been done by John Macculloch, Roderick 
Murchison, and Hugh Miller. I had endeavoured to prepare myself for a somewhat 
difficult task, by a training partly unofficial and partly official—I will not employ 
the terms ‘ amateur’ and ‘ professional,’ for of late they haye been so sadly misused 
—hut when I came a stranger among you, I could not have deserved, and I cer- 
tainly did not anticipate, that cordial welcome, that kindly aid and that generous 
appreciation, of which I accept my position here to-day as the crowning manifesta- 
tion. 
While I continue to occupy myself with the glorious problems of Highland 
geology—and hitherto I have found that each difficulty surmounted has resulted, 
like the sown teeth of the slaughtered dragon, in a plentiful crop of new ones—the 
many acts of kindness of my numerous friends here can never cease to be present 
in my mind, For not only am I indebted to those who, like your own Dr. Gordon 
of Birnie and Dr. Joass of Golspie, have been able out of the stores of their know- 
ledge to furnish me with ‘things new and old,’ and who have been unfailing in 
their aid and sympathy, but to those also who have pitied, but nevertheless helped, 
the ‘ daft callant that speers after the chucky stanes,’ 
I know of no higher pleasure than that which the geologist experiences in 
wisiting regions of great scientific interest which are new to him, and of grasping 
the hands of fellow-workers, whose labours and teachings he has learned to admire 
and to appreciate. Whatever may be my lot in this way in future years, however 
tich the country visited may be in objects of profound instructiveness or of surpass- 
ing interest, I can anticipate or desire nothing more valuable than the lessons, or 
Jxnder than the reception which I have met with here. 
‘Tl ask na mair, when I get there, 
Than just a Hiclan welcome,’ 
The following Reports and Papers were read :— 
1. Report on the Volcanic Phenomena of Vesuvius.—See Reports, p. 395. 
2. Fifth Report on the Earthquake Phenomena of Japan. 
See Reports, p. 362. 
3. On some recent Harthquales on the Durham Coast, and their 
probable cause. By Professor G. A. Lesour, M.A., F.G.S. 
Since the end of 1883 up to the present time the inhabitants of certain por- 
tions of the town of Sunderland have been much disturbed by a series of small 
but distinctly sensible earthquakes, which have caused considerable discussion in 
the local press and elsewhere. These shocks were chiefly felt in that quarter of 
the town known as the Tunstall Road, but were not absolutely limited to that 
locality. They were accompanied by rumblings—sometimes dull but often loud— 
by the rattling of crockery and furniture, and frequently by very distinct shakes of 
the entire framework of buildings, Often the shocks have, at night, waked up and 
terrified the sleeping inhabitants. 
