670 REPORT— 1887. 



biology, wliicb, without any substantial p:ain, now replaces, in name only, the 

 hitherto better kuown sciences of botany and zoology. 



Indeed, could the views so eloquently put forward by Professor Judd be main- 

 tained, mineralogy itself would have to be added to the list of sciences included 

 under biology. But notwithstanding the well-known aphorism of Linnteus — 



Lapides crescunt, Vegetabilia crescunt et vivunt ; 

 Anitnalia crescunt, vivunt, et sentiunt — 



the growth of the first is of a totally different nature from that which takes place 

 in the last. 



Minerals, or more properly crystals, increase or grow in size by additions to 

 their external surf aces of molecules of matter identical with themselves. They are 

 therefore as a rule homogeneous throughout, almost rigid, and remain under 

 ordinary circumstances unchanged irrespective of time. 



Plants and animals, on the contrary, increase by intussusception, or the taking 

 of matter within their tissues. Their bodies are not homogeneous, and they exhibit 

 all the various phenomena of growth and decay. 



We stand, then, still like * watchers on the threshold,' not yet admitted beyond 

 the veil. AVe are not prepared to include minerals in the study of living beings, 

 nor are we, I submit, any nearer the solution of the problem. What is life ? whether 

 we call it ' vitality ' or ' vital force ; ' nor can we jjroduce it like ' electricity ' or 

 ' electrical force,' by the aid of mechanics. That it has existed ever since our 

 planet became habitable by living organisms is bej-ond doubt ; and since life first 

 dawned it seems equally certain that this ' vital force ' was never at any time ex- 

 tinguished, but, like the sacred flame of Iran, its light has always gladdened our 

 earth with its presence. 



I have already referred to the vastness and diversity of the domain which 

 geology claims as her own ; indeed, we might, if so disposed, pursue our subject in 

 its cosmical aspect, and, inviting the astronomer and the physicist to our aid, proceed 

 to consider the evolution of our earth and its subsequent history as a part of the 

 solar system. 



Or, taking up geognosy, we might inquire into the materials of the earth's 

 substance and the chief rocks and minerals of which its crust is built up. 



Should dynamics charm us, then we may study the various agencies by which 

 rocks have been formed and altered, and the frequent changes in relation to sea 

 and land which the terrestrial surface has undergone in former times. 



Does rock-arcMtecture attract us? It is ours to inquire how the various 

 materials of the earth came to be arranged as we find them — whether wrought by 

 living agents, or ejected by volcanic forces, or laid down quietly by water. 



Or is chronology the object of our study ? Then our task will be to investigate 

 the well-marked succession of the stratified rocks and the sequence of events 

 which they record. 



Again, we might prefer the physiographical aspect of geology, embracing the 

 history of the features of the earth and the causes which have brouglit about its 

 varied conditions of continent and ocean, of mountain and valley, hill and plain, 

 making up that grand diversity of surface which constitutes its scenery. 



Yet more, it is within our domain as geologists to investigate the past life of 

 the globe through all its successive changes and to trace it from its earliest dawn 

 in Pra3-Cambrian times down to its grand development at the present day. 



One result of the very vastness of this kingdom is that there is a tendency 

 amongst its subjects to form into separate constituencies, and these in an incre- 

 dibly short time evolve languages of their own, so that, unless this fissiparity can 

 be successfully arrested, we shall speedily repeat the story of ' the confusion of 

 tongues,' and our geological tower, which once promised by our combined labours 

 to reach grandly heavenwards, may soon cease from building altogether. 



This incoherence in our body politic may, I think, be traced to that great 

 development by the microscope in mineralogical geology and petrology, which has 

 no doubt been necessitated by the investigation of those remote Prie -Cambrian or 

 Archaean rock-masses in the north-west Highlands, Shropshire, the Malverns, 



