550 Notices of Memoirs—Professor W. S. Boulton— 
Northern Pennines, and determined the general consequent drainage 
system of the region. 
Dr. Marr, Professor Kendall, Professor Fearnsides, and others have 
dealt with some of the interesting and important Glacial and post- 
Glacial changes of drainage, of which there are many examples in 
the Northern Pennines. ‘These Pleistocene changes may be studied 
especially well in the Howgill Fells, the Bowland Fells, and the 
Craven Lowland country. 
NOTICES OF MEMOTRS. 
—~>——_ 
I.—ApprEss ro THE GrotoeicaL Section oF THE BririsH AssociaTION 
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT oF Screncr, Nuwcasrie-on-Tynez, 1916.1 
By Professor W. 8. Bourton, D.Sc., F.G.S., President of the 
Section. 
E are assembled here in Newcastle-on-Tyne, the heart of a great 
industrial community, where coal, the very lifeblood of 
industry, has been raised for more than three centuries in ever- 
increasing amount; and of all minerals which our science has helped 
us to win from the earth for man’s comfort and use, coal must 
assuredly take pride of place. . . 
It has been the custom for the President of this Section to deal 
with some large, outstanding question of theoretic interest, and on 
this occasion I wish to refer to the present outlook of Economic 
Geology, more especially in this country. 
If we attempt to compare the growth of applied geology in Britain 
with that, say, in the United States of America, or even in our great 
self-governing Dominions, or to appraise the knowledge of, and | 
respect for, the facts and principles of geology as directly applicable 
to industry in these countries and in our own, or to compare the 
respective literatures on the subject, I think we shall have to confess 
that we have lagged far behind the position we ought by right of 
tradition and opportunities now to occupy. . The vast natural 
resources of the countries I have named have doubtless stimulated a 
corresponding effort in their profitable development. But making 
due allowance for the fact that Britain is industrially mature as 
compared with these youthful communities, we cannot doubt that in 
this special branch of geology, however splendid our advances in 
others, we have been outstripped by our kinsmen abroad. 
This comparative failure to apply effectively the resources of 
geology to practical affairs is unquestionably due, in no small measure, 
to our ignorance and neglect of, and consequent indifference to, 
science in general, more “especially on the part of our governing 
classes. This War, with all its material waste and mental anguish, 
may bring at least some compensation if it finally rouses us from 
complacence and teaches us to utilize more fully the highly trained 
and specialized intelligence of the nation. 
? Slightly abridged. 
