SECTION C— GEOLOGY. 



THE PLEISTOCENE HISTORY OF 

 THE WEST MIDLANDS 



ADDRESS BY 



PROF. LEONARD J. WILLS, D.Sc, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



Before I turn to the substance of my Address, I feel that I must avail my- 

 self of my privilege as a president to wander from my subject, and speak 

 briefly of a matter that is very much in my mind. I refer to the recruiting 

 of the amateur geologist and to the training required to fit him to under- 

 take original research. As a field of activity for the amateur, geology is 

 unique among the sciences ; for its laboratory is the countryside, and 

 the equipment required for many sections of the subject is simple and 

 inexpensive. 



When we ponder over the wonderful foundations that were laid in all 

 the principal branches by the early workers who were nearly all amateurs, 

 and when we consider the value of research still in progress or recently 

 completed by present-day enthusiasts, such for example as Cobbold, 

 Wickham King, Green or Bisat, it would be a thousand pities were the 

 species to be added to our list of extinct monsters. Yet I think it will be 

 agreed that, whereas the number of professionals is perhaps increasing, 

 there is a dearth of men and women who are at once capable of research 

 and ready to undertake it in their spare time and on their holidays. 



First, as to the recruitment of amateurs : some are caught young, others 

 are driven to it, may be, by unemployment ; but the underlying reason 

 for taking up the subject is usually found to be the same, namely that the 

 man has been attracted in the first place by the broader interests of the 

 science, such as its explanation of scenery, its interrelation to man's 

 activities, its view of Time, its evidences of how life has proceeded in the 

 past, and its lessons for the future. The fact that geology is a science 

 that can be pursued out-of-doors is also undoubtedly an additional 

 attraction. 



Having found our recruit, he has to undergo training before he can be 

 of real value as an observer, recorder and interpreter. The most essential 

 thing is that he should acquire a broad foundation of basic principles. 

 Without this he will never have the vision to see how any specialisation he 

 may later indulge in or any contribution he himself may make, falls into 



