CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 861 



thing that such cheaply and easily reproduced records should be preserved 

 locally, but while I venture to hope that the National Photographic Record 

 Association will continue to receive copies of the more important geological 

 record photographs, I trust that the parent Committee of the British 

 Association — which, remember, was originated by one of us, Mr. Jeffs, 

 the delegate for the Liverpool Geological Society — should receive copies 

 of photographs not only of geological records but of typical phenomena. 



In my own experience I find that it is through the Local Society that 

 I have come into contact with the individual who ia doing the work, and 

 this introduction seems to me to be one of the important functions of the 

 Society. 



I have been asked to refer to the scheme for a botanical survey of 

 Britain by counties, as Mr. Smith will not be present. I will see that 

 the topic is spoken to at the next meeting. 



I wish next to speak as a geologist and to suggest certain points for 

 consideration by the delegates. 



An uncomfortable idea is sometimes conveyed that the mere tramp 

 work of scientific investigation is the meed of Local Societies, and that 

 the comfortable trips and record passages are I'eserved for the brilliant 

 outside investigator. There is no greater mistake. It is true that I once 

 heard one geologist remark to another, ' You give us the facts and we 

 will draw our own conclusions,' but I am strongly of opinion that the 

 man with the best right and in the best position to draw conclusions is 

 he who linds out and records the facts. 



The first geological survey of the country is now nearing completion, 

 and in the maps there is a wealth of raw material for the local investi- 

 gator. No one knows better than the geological surveyor that his work 

 is only just begun when he has got the lines upon his map ; but an 

 impatient Government calls him elsewhere, and he is only too willing to 

 hand over his maps and the threads of his ideas to the local investigator 

 to work out. The further division of the strata, the zonal collection of 

 the fossils, the relations and origin of the igneous rocks, and the fascinating 

 problems relating to the origin of the landscape features, all become for 

 the first time possible with the completion of the 1-inch map. 



After the survey new wells, borings, cuttings, quarries, and other 

 sections are opened up, and the Local Society can do excellent work either 

 in the person of the local geologist or, if there be no such person, by 

 giving information, which is always gratefully received and generally 

 acted upon, to the office of the Survey. 



As examples I may mention the examination of many new railways, 

 pipe lines, sewers, and other works which have been studied and re- 

 ported upon locally or from the Survey office. Previous to the survey of 

 Charnwood Forest nobody knew that the Mountsorrel granite had been 

 sculptui-ed by desert wind-storms in Triassic time. But suspecting that 

 such would turn out to be the case, I asked local observers to watch the 

 excavations, with the result that in a few years the necessary evidence 

 ■was forthcoming. 



It has long been recognised that there are two geologies — the superficial 

 and the solid ; one dealing with surface accumulations of drift, gravel, and 

 subsoil, the other with the rocks built into the earth's crust. The former 

 obscures the latter on the ground and in the maps, but is very important 

 as the connecting link, through the soil, between the inorganic earth and 

 the life on it. But a third geology is now becoming prominent, especially 



