674 EEPOKT— 1887. 



nortli-eastern and the -western side of tbc Grampians, all south of the latter 

 having been already completed. 



Ireland is entirely surveyed with the exception of a small area in' Donegal, 

 which will probablj' be completed this year. This district is of interest from its 

 resemblance to the north-west Highlands, and from the problems which it presents 

 as to the origin of the crystalline schists; The recent discovery of organic remains 

 amongst the Donegal schists adds additional interest to this inquiry. 



The publications of the Survey during the past year are as follows : — England 

 and Wales, six sheets of the map, two sheets of horizontal sections, three of vertical 

 sections, and six memoirs ; Scotland, three maps and one memoir ; Ireland, two 

 maps and six memoirs. 



The next matter which has arisen since our last meeting relates to our Colonies, 

 and comes to us in the shape of a message from the retiring President of the 

 Association, Sir William Dawson, who has embodied his ideas in a letter 

 to the President of the Eoyal Society (Professor Stokes), copies of which have 

 been sent also to all the learned Societies. To the former I am indebted for 

 a copy, accompanied by a favourable report thereon from the Royal Society of 

 Canada. 



As the object of this communication is one in which I am sure we, as English- 

 men, must all feel a hearty sympathy, appealing as it does to our patriotism in its 

 widest sense, as well as to our devotion for and interest in the science of geology, 

 I feel I shall not need to apologise for introducing it to your notice here. 



We are invited by it to enrol ourselves, as geologists, in a Federal Union, 

 composed of all our brethren at home, in our Colonies, and in all' the dependencies 

 of the British Crown. Nor are we to stop here, for when this has been satisfac- 

 torily accomplished it is suggested that we should invite our English-speaking 

 cousins of the great United States, with whom we are already in such close 

 alliance upon so many objects of common scientific interest, to join our Geological 

 Confederation, and, having thus obtained an overwhelming majority, we are to pro- 

 ceed—without armies or vessels of war — to'extend our peaceful conquest over every 

 country on the habitable globe, urging and persuading those countries who have 

 not established geological surveys to do so forthwith, and inviting those who have 

 surveys of their own to join our British Association Geological Union. And 

 when all has been accomplished in this direction our exertions as a confederacy 

 may well be extended to secure the mapping of all those outlying regions of the 

 earth's surface at present imperfectly known or still geologically unexplored. 



Suggestions such as these could hardly come at a more fitting and appropriate 

 moment, for are we not now on the eve of the completion of the geological surveys 

 of the British Islands P if such a task can ever be said to be completed which has 

 occupied the attentive study of so many able geologists during the last eighty years 

 or more, and from the very nature of the case must always require additional 

 research and revision. 



India, Africa, and our Colonies may all hope for future assistance from the 

 many geological students now being trained in our schools and colleges, who may 

 not be required in the near future for home surveys, and must needs go further 

 afield to win their title of admission to the ancient and honourable order of 

 ' Knights of the Hammer.' 



This idea of scientific federation was referred to by Professor Huxley in his 

 Presidential Address to the Royal Society in 18S5, and subsequently by the present 

 President (Professor G. G. Stokes) in November last. 



If we could devise a scheme by which we might, from time to time, recognise in 

 a suitable manner — whether by corresponding memljership, or honorary fellowship, 

 or by medals and awards — as Professor Huxley has suggested, the good scientific 

 work being done by members of the many societies in our distant colonies of 

 Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, that would indeed 

 be a step in the right direction, and would doubtless prove most helpful and en- 

 couraging to all our fellow-geologists abroad. 



The Geological Society of London, no doubt, to some extent covers this ground ; 

 but it should be noticed that in the view of this Society' our Colonies and other 



