180 Reports and Proceedings— 
Hayden and Count Marschall,—he proceeded to congratulate the 
Society upon its flourishing condition, alike as regards its numbers, 
its finances, and the work which it has accomplished during the past 
year. ‘The remainder of the Address was devoted to a discussion of 
the relations which exist between Geology and the Biological sciences. 
He insisted on the maintenance of Paleontology as a distinct branch 
of science, having equal claims upon the attention of Geologists and 
Biologists, and he instanced the life and work of Charles Darwin, as 
exemplifying the value and importance of a combination of Geological 
and Biological research. 
The Ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were duly 
elected for the ensuing year:—President: W. T. Blanford, LL.D., F.R.S.  Vice- 
Presidents: John Evans, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.; Prof. T. M‘Kenny Hughes, 
M.A.; Prof. J. Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S.; Henry Woodward, LL.D., F.R.S. 
Secretaries: W. H. Hudleston, Hsq., M.A., F.R.S.; J. E. Marr, Esq., M.A. 
Foreign Secretary : Sir Warington W. Smyth, M.A., F.R.S. Treasurer: Prof. T. 
Wiltshire, M.A., F.L.S. Council: W. T. Blanford, LL.D., F.R.S.; John Evans, 
D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.; L. Fletcher, Esq.. M.A.; A. Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. ; 
Henry Hicks, M.D., F.R.S.; Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A.; W. H. Hudleston, Esq., 
M.A., F.R.S.; J. W. Hulke, Esq., F.R.S.; Prof. T. M‘Kenny Hughes, M.A. ; 
Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S.; Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S.; R. Lydekker, Esq., 
B.A.; Lieut.-Col. C. A. McMahon; J. E. Marr, Esq., M.A.; E. T. Newton, Esq. ; 
Prof. J. Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S.; Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S.; Sir Warington W. 
Smyth, M.A., F.R.S.; W. Topley, Esq.; Rev. G. F. Whidborne, M.A.; Prof. T. 
Wiltshire, M.A., F.L.S.; Rev. H. H. Winwood, M.A.; Henry Woodward, LL.D., 
F.R.S. 
II.—Feb. 29, 1888.—W. T. Blanford, LL.D., F.R.S., President, 
in the Chair.—The following communications were read :-— 
1. “An Estimate of Post-Glacial Time.” By T. Mellard Reade, 
Hsq., C.E., F.G.S. 
The author showed that there exists on the coasts of Lancashire 
and Cheshire an important series of Post-Glacial deposits which he 
has studied for many years. The whole country to which his notes 
refer was formerly covered with a mantle of low-level marine 
Koulder-clay and Sands, and the valleys of the Dee, Mersey, and 
Ribble were at one time filled with these glacial deposits. 
These glacial beds have been much denuded, especially in the 
valleys, where the rivers have cleared them out, in some cases, to the 
bed rock. Most of this denudation occurred during a period of 
elevation succeeding the deposition of the Low-level Boulder-clay. 
On this eroded surface and in the eroded channels lie a series of 
Post-Glacial beds of a most interesting and extensive nature. They 
consist of estuarine silt and Scrobicularia-clay covered by extensive 
peat-deposits, containing the stools of trees rooted into them. Upon 
these lie, in some places, recent tidal silts, and on the coast margin 
blown sand and sand dunes. The series of events represented by the 
denudation of the Low-level Boulder-clay and the laying down of 
these deposits is as follows:—Ist, elevation succeeding the glacial 
period, during which time the Boulder-clay was deeply denuded in 
the valleys. 2nd, subsidence to about the 25-feet contour, when the 
estuarine silts and clays were laid down. 3rd, re-elevation repre- 
senting most probably a continental connexion with the British 
