8 Eminent Living Geologists — 



to mode of origin, to the relation of organisnas to physical conditions, 

 and to the question of contemporaneity. 



In his second address his wide knowledge of geology and natural 

 history was brought to bear on the much debated subject of the 

 permanence of ocean basins ; and after reviewing the evidence with 

 great skill and judgment, he concluded "that whilst the general 

 permanence of ocean basins and continental areas cannot be said 

 to be established on anything like firm proof, the general evidence 

 in favour of this view is very strong. But there is no evidence 

 whatever in favour of the extreme view accepted by some physicists 

 and geologists that every ocean bed now more than 1,000 fathoms 

 deep has always been ocean, and that no part of the continental 

 area has ever been beneath the deep sea. Not only is there clear 

 proof that some land areas lying within continental limits have at 

 a comparatively recent date been submerged over 1,000 fathoms, 

 whilst sea-bottoms now over 1,000 fathoms deep must have been 

 land in part of the Tertiary era, but there are a mass of facts both 

 geological and biological in favour of land - connection having 

 formerly existed in certain cases across what are now broad and 

 deep oceans." 



Both addresses are pervaded by a philosophical spirit which 

 commands our admiration, and both may be profitably read and 

 re-read at the present day. 



One who is well acquainted with Mr. Blanford and his work 

 writes : — " As regards Blanford's views on ocean basins and old land 

 surfaces, they have been advocated with great skill, backed by an 

 immense experience, and seem to be in conformity with Lyellian 

 doctrines. One important feature in Blanford's career is the way in 

 which he has been enabled to combine geography with geologj'. 

 No one can have been said to have done so much to harmonize the 

 sister sciences, and the pi'ominent positions he has held, from time 

 to time, in the Geological and Geographical Societies have enabled 

 him to give effect to his views in both connections. Together with 

 this insight into the physical aspects of geology he combines 

 extensive zoological knowledge, as more especially evinced by the 

 works which he has produced or edited for the Government of 

 India and in this country. His work in ever}'^ department, whether 

 in zoology, geography, or geology, has been marked by thoroughness 

 and accurac3\" 



As already stated, Mr. Blanford received the Wollaston Medal in 

 1883, immediately after his final return from India, and a Eoyal 

 Medal from the Koyal Society in 1901 in special recognition of his 

 work on the Geology and the Fauna of British India. 



In 1904 he received from H.M. the King the Companionship of 

 the Indian Empire. 



He is an Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the 

 Hungarian Geological Society, and the Amei'ican Ornithologists' 

 Union, and a Corresponding Member of the Isis, Dresden, and the 

 Belg-ian Geological Societies. 



