Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 191 



Professor Groom replied in the following words: — Mr. President, — 



The scientific investigator has many and varied sources of pleasure : among the 

 greatest of these must be reckoned the sympathies of his fellow-workers, and the 

 appreciation of his efforts by those best qualified to judge. It is therefore with 

 peculiar satisfaction that I understand from your kind words, and from the honour 

 which the Council of the Geological Society have conferred upon me, that my work 

 has met with approval. 



The President tlien proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, in 

 which he first gave obituary notices of several Foreign Members, 

 Foreign Correspondents, and Fellows deceased since the last annual 

 meeting, including Professor R. W. Bunsen (elected F.M. in 1856), 

 Professor H. B. Geinitz (F.M. in 18o7), Dr. Franz Ritter von 

 Hauer (F.M. in 1871), Charles Broni,niiart (F.C. in 1888), Professor 

 Louis Lartet (F.C. in 1882), Sir J. W. Dawson (elected a Fellow in 

 1854), G. Dowker (el. 1864), Sir William Flower (el. 1866), Sir 

 Douglas Galton (el. 1848), T. M. Hall (el. 1865), Dr. H. Hicks 

 (el. 1871), Sir Frederick McCoy (el. 1852), J. B. Eedman (el. 1882), 

 and John Ruskin (el. 1840). He also gave obituary notices of Major 

 Lambart Brickenden, formerly for many years a Fellow of the 

 Society, and of Lady Prestwich. 



He then referred to the great advance in Geological Science in 

 his own time, an advance that consisted largely of the arising of 

 new lines of work and not merely of progress in old ones; thus 

 Petrology was a new branch of the science. Palaeontology had 

 been aifected by the growth of the Theory of Evolution. In 

 Physical Geology such subjects as metamorphism, mountain- 

 structure, and erosion had entered into new phases. In Strati- 

 graphy the geological series had been extended downward below 

 the Cambrian, and at the other end of the scale our knowledge 

 of the Drift had greatly developed, largely owing probably to 

 geological discoveries connected with the Antiquity of Man. 



He then treated of the advance in our knowledge of Underground 

 Geology, especially in the South-East of England, a subject in which 

 comparatively little was known 45 years ago ; and he described in 

 some detail the underground extension and thickness of various 

 formations, particularly of those below the Chalk, under the heads 

 Upper Greensand, Gault, Lower Greensand, Wealden and Purbeck, 

 Jurassic, Lias and Trias, and Older Rocks ; referring to the amount 

 of knowledge which we possess in the London Basin, and its 

 .southern border in the Wealden district, as compared with the 

 Hampshire Basin. 



He concluded that, as in the past such great progress had been 

 made, so in the future would progress continue, with the development 

 of new ideas and fresh methods of work, so that our younger 

 geologists would have plenty of work before them. 



The ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were declared 

 dulyelectedfortheensuingyear: — CoM«cz7: W.T.Blanford, LL.D., F.R.S. ; Trofessor 

 T. G. Bonnev, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. ; Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., 

 F.R.S. ; E. J. Garwood, Esq., M.A. ; Alfred Harker, Esq., M.A. ; F. W. Harmer, 

 Esq. ; R. S. Berries, Esq., M.A. ; Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A. ; William Hill, Esq. ; 

 Professor J. W. Judd, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.; Lieut. -General C. A. McMahon, 

 F.R.S.; H. W. Monckton, Esq., F.L.S. ; E. T. Newton, Esq., F.R.S. ; G. T. 



