502 REPORT— 1888. 



Section C— GEOLOGY. 

 Pbesidkm op the Section — Robert Etheeidge, F.R.S. L. and E., F.G.S. 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 24. 



Tho President delivei-ed the following Address : — • 



For some years it has heen the rule or practice that the Presidents should open the 

 sectional meetings with an address, selecting any subject which may seem to them 

 best adapted to the occasion. This custom I believe had its origin in this Section, 

 when the Association met at Aberdeen, and was due to Sir 0. Lyell, who was the 

 first to deliver au opening address. lie selected for his theme the discoveries of 

 M. Boucher de Perthes, chiefly with relation to the occurrence and association of 

 flint weapons with the bones of extinct animals in the gravels of the valley of the 

 Somme. 



The Geological Section, over which during the present meeting I have the 

 honour to preside, embraces a wide field of researcli, and therefore allows selection 

 from a large range of subjects, so large indeed that it would be difficult to choose 

 an original one that would be acceptable and useful to those members of the 

 Association who may be present. It is thirty-six years since the British Asso- 

 ciation last met in Southampton, and probably not half-a-dozen members who 

 attended the meeting of 1846 are now present, if living. We are, however, for- 

 tunate in having with us to-day one or two who contributed papers to this Section 

 thirty-six years ago. 



The Geological Section may be congratulated on its place of meeting this year. 

 Hampshire presents a wide range and field of research to the practical, as well as to 

 the less advanced student in geology. Truly may it be said that this area is classic 

 ground. No less than six distinct formations, with their subdivisions, occur in 

 the immediate neighbourhood and within reach of those members who have 

 honoured the Association with their presence this j-ear. Be it remembered that 

 it is thirty-six years since the British Association met in this city. Since then, 

 or the year 184G, geology has indeed advanced with strides unsurpassed by any 

 other science. The Tertiary rocks of the Hampshire basin alone have received from 

 the hands of private and learned physicists, as well as the long-continued labour of 

 : the Geological Survey, the most careful and detailed research. It may well be said 

 that this rich field has not wanted competent labourers, earliest and foremost of 

 whom must be named Webster, Sedgwick, Prestwich, and Edward Forbes, who 

 with Mr. Bristow mapped out with so much care and accuracy the intricate struc- 

 ture of the Isle of Wight. To these must be added, through later research, the 

 names of Searles AVood, Wright, Fisher, Tawney, Keeping, Judd, and others. Other 

 portions of Hampshire and Sussex bearing upon the question of the Anglo-French 

 Tertiary basin, have been elaborately treated by Dixon, God win- Austen, Sir 

 C. Lyell, and others. 



It may be a fitting preliminary to local communications which will most pro- 

 bably come in, during the course of this meeting, that I should summarise what 

 has been done in this area. This may be familiar to many, but there are others 

 who may wish to examine certain geological localities, the mention of which may 

 induce them to visit spots of much interest. It is scarcely the duty of the president 

 of this Section to devote the time allowed to an opening address to the discussion 

 of any original subject, while work of unusual local interest has transpired during 

 the past year to justify him in drawing attention to a subject of much importance 



