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Section C— GEOLOGY. 



President of the Section.— John Evans, D.C.L., F.B.8., F.S.A., F.Q-.S. 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1878. 



Mr. John Evans gave the following Address :— 

 In opening the proceedings of this section, I cannot but call attention to the 

 fact that the present is the third occasion on which the British Association has met 

 in this city, its first meeting here having taken place in the year 18d5, or _ iorty- 

 three years ago. On that occasion, as indeed for many years afterwards, the two 

 distinct, though to some extent cognate branches of study, Geology and Geography, 

 were classed in the same section, and its president was a man of whom Irish science 

 may well be proud, and who, I am thankful to say, is stiU I living -to > enjoy his ^well- 

 deserved honours-the veteran geologist, Sir Richard John Griffith the author of 

 the first Geological Map of Ireland. It seems hardly credible that the construction 

 of this map was commenced in the summer of 1812, or sixty-six years ago ; but 

 the records of the Geological Society of London testify to the more remarkable tact 

 that Sir Richard Griffith was elected a fellow of that society in 1808— seventy 

 years a^o. Indeed, in 1854, when the Wollaston medal was awarded to the then 

 Dr Griffith, the president, the late Professor Edward Forbes, spoke as he said 

 reverentially to one of the earliest members of the society, and to a geologist who 

 appeared in print before he, the president, was born. It was well said on that 

 occasion that the map lately mentioned was one of the most remarkable geological 

 maps ever produced by a single geologist; and I make no doubt that those who 

 are at present engaged on the Geological Survey of this island will testify, as did 

 their predecessors, to the value of this "surprising monument of observation and 



' ' When speaking of the Geological Survey of Ireland, it will not, I am sure, be 



thought out of place if I offer here a tribute of respect to the memory of one who 



was originally a student in the college within whose walls we are assembled and 



who subsequently occupied posts of the highest importance m connection ^with the 



Geological Society of Dublin and the Geological Survey of Ireland besides filling 



the professorial Chair of Geology in this University : I mean Dr. Thomas Oldham 



the late director of the Geological Survey of India. With the marvellous amount 



of work which he was enabled to accomplish in that country you are all acquainted, 



and you will all share in the regret that the period of his well-earned retirement- 



thafrequiesoptimorummeritorum"— should have been so quickly cut short try 



death. His name will, however, long survive, and future students of geology will 



have no difficulty in recognising the distinguished labourer in their science alter 



whom the Cambrian Oldhamia pi the Wicklow hills so worthily received its name. 



But to return to this Association. . h 



On the next occasion of its meeting in Dublin, in 1857, Section C. had become 



devoted to geology alone, and geography was excluded, the president being L,ora 



Talbot de Malahide, a nobleman whom also we still have among us, and who is 



alike well known to archaeologists and geologists. 



