Sir R. I, Murchison’s Address. 463 
the eruptive rocks of the Rowley Hills ; and he reminded his hearers 
that Professor Jukes would, in an Evening Lecture, indicate the 
extent to which profitable sinkings for coal can be made through the 
red sandstones of the central counties. One such successful sinking 
was made by the late Earl of Dartmouth, only four miles to the west 
of Birmingham, twenty-seven years ago, and was then referred to by 
Sir Roderick as a good sign of the progressive influence of geo- 
logical knowledge. Alluding to the probable increase of coal-area 
to be realized by following the South Staffordshire coal-field under- 
ground to the east, the speaker noticed the enormous annual increase 
in our use of coal (now amounting ‘to the astounding figure of 93 
millions of tons’) as a caution against too sanguine expectations as 
to the duration of our coal supply. He then directed attention to 
the interesting accumulation of granitic and other drift of the Gla- 
cial Period to be studied near Wolverhampton, and said—‘ Coming 
hither in ignorance of what the several associations of local geo- 
logists (which rival each other in their researches) have accom- 
plished, I shall be happy to learn that some of them have detected, 
in this portion of the kingdom, any of those proofs of the existence 
of man at an early period, when large animals, now extinct, pre- 
vailed in our islands, in ages so remote that, since then, the physical 
configuration of the country has undergone great changes. This 
inference is, as I have said, founded upon irrefragable evidence 
collected in different parts of Europe, as well as in our own country. 
When, however, we come to consider the modus operandi by which 
these great physical changes have been brought about, geologists 
have different opinions. As one who holds to the belief that in 
former periods the crust of the earth was from time to time affected 
by an agency much more powerful than anything which has been ex- 
perienced in the historic era, I do not believe that the wear and tear 
due to atmospheric subaérial erosive agency could, even after ope- 
rating for countless ages, have originated and deepened any of the 
valleys and gorges which occur in countries as flat as the tract in 
which we are now assembled. 
‘ But, whilst I adhere to my long-cherished opinion as to the 
great intensity of power employed in the production of dislocations 
of the crust of the earth, and though I cannot subscribe to the doc- 
trine that the ordinary action of deep seas remote from coasts can 
adequately explain the denudation of the old surface, even by in- 
voking any amount of time, I recognize with pleasure the ability 
displayed by my able associates, Ramsay, Jukes, and Geikie,* in 
sustaining views which are to a great extent opposed to my own in 
this department of Theoretical Geology. 
‘ Admiring the Huttonian theory, as derived from reasoning upon 
* The work of Geikie, recently published, and entitled ‘The Scenery of Scotland 
viewed in connexion with its Physical Geology,’ is an admirable illustration of that 
author’s descriptive powers. Though I am opposed to his view of the original for- 
mation of valleys and deep depressions by rivers and the atmosphere, I quite agree 
with him as to the great effect produced by glaciers when that mountainous region 
was covered by snow and ice. 
