Sir R. I. Murchison’s Address. 465 
of fluviatile action? Must we not, in candour, admit that such 
denudation is as difficult to account for, as it is to explain by what 
possible gradual agency the vast interior of the valley of elevation of 
the Weald of Sussex and Kent, and that of the smaller valley of 
Woolhope in Herefordshire, have been so absolutely and entirely 
denuded of every fragment of the enormous masses of débris which 
must have encumbered these cavities, as derived from the rocks 
which once covered them? Placing no stint whatever on the time 
which geologists must invoke to satisfy their minds as to the count- 
less ages which elapsed during the accumulations of sediment, I 
reject as an assumption which is at variance with the numberless 
proofs of intense disturbance, that the mechanical disruptions of 
former periods, and the overthrow of entire formations, as seen in 
the Alps and many mountain-chains, can be accounted for by any 
length of action of existing causes. 
‘ But I must not wander farther on, illustrating this principle, to 
which, as an old practical geologist, I still adhere, namely, that in 
former periods there existed forces which, though similar in kind, 
were of much greater intensity than those which now prevail, and 
without which we in vain seek to account for the upheavals, de- 
pressions, dislocations, and even many of the denudations of which 
the old crusts of the earth exhibit such undeniable proofs.’ 
In conclusion, Sir RopERICK spoke warmly of the labours of the 
Natural History Clubs; namely, the Malvern Club,. with special 
mention of Dr. Holl’s elucidation of the structure of the Malvern 
Range ; the Caradoc, the Oswestry, the Woolhope, the Cotteswold, 
and other Clubs ; all doing good Geological work, within easy reach 
of Birmingham, where certainly the British Association, with 
Phillips as President, and Lyell as ex-President, has delighted to 
honour Sir Roderick’s favourite Science. 
The following Papers were read before the GEOLOGICAL SECTION 
of the British ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE, 
at Birmingham, from Sept. 7 to 138, 1865 :— 
The President’s (Sir Roderick I. Murchison) Opening Address. See 
above, p. 462, &e. 
Rev. W. S. Symonds.—On some Ancient Drifts and Old River-beds 
of Siluria. 
W. Pengelly.—The Insulation of St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. 
Rev. W. Purton.—The Geology of Coalbrook Dale. 
G. Maw.—On the Extensive Deposits of White Clays and Sands in 
North Wales, antecedent to the Boulder-clay Drift. (See 
GroLocicaL MaGazine, May 1865, p. 200.) 
C. J. Woodward.—On a Deposit near Lilleshall, Salop, containing 
Recent Marine Shells. 
IT, Chance.—On the Smelting of Rowley Rag. 
Professor Harkness and H. Nicholson.—Additional Observations on 
the Geology of the Lake Country. 
Henry Woodward.—Description of a New Chart of Fossil Crustacea. 
VOL. II.—NO. XVI. Fy EE 
