Transactions. — 139 
film of organic life with which that crust is coated—a film so 
faint and frail and fragile in comparison to the mass of the globe 
that it seemed as if, like the bloom on a ripe peach, the merést 
touch might brush it away and abolish it for ever ; but a film that 
was yet the enduring record of the ages, the supreme revelation 
of the Cosmos, the line of contact between the seen and the 
unseen universe. (Cheers.) Mr Scott-Elliot had paid to him in 
London what no doubt he regarded, and deservedly regarded, as 
a very distinguished compliment ten days ago, when at the close 
of his paper read before the Royal Geographical Society that 
doyen and prince of African explorers, Mr H. M. Stanley, 
complimented him on the excellence of his work and the modesty 
of his account of it. (Cheers.) Mr Stanley, of course, did not 
agree with all Mr Scott-Elliot’s conclusions—and he had noticed 
that no two African explorers ever did agree with all each other’s 
conclusions—(laughter)—but he was unstinted in his praise of 
the thoroughness of his research. He wished it had been possible 
that another great African traveller, second only to Mr Stanley 
—if, indeed, in some respects second to Mr Stanley—himself a 
Dumfriesshire man like Mr Scott-Elliot, could have been there to 
listen to his lecture, to criticise it, to extol its powers ; he meant, 
of course, Mr Joseph Thomson. He was sure they all greatly 
deplored the fact that Mr Joseph Thomson, after apparently 
recovering from a long and serious illness, had been again 
prostrated by an attack of influenza and pneumonia, and was now 
lying at Mentone. They all sincerely hoped that the improve 
ment which was announced would be maintained, and that we 
should soon see him back in health among us. (Cheers.) Mr 
Thomson’s illness two years ago came at a time when he was 
about to reap the reward of his great Jabours, and but for that 
illness he would now have been occupying a very important place 
in Africa. It would certainly have been an interesting feature 
if they could have had Mr Joseph Thomson and Mr Scott-Elliot 
on the platform together—both African explorers of proved merit, 
both Dumfriesshire men—and, by-the-bye, Mungo Park was a 
Dumfriesshire man—and both African explorers of the same 
type. Both had scientific objects in view ; and it was to their 
honour that their expeditions had been carried out without 
bloodshed. (Cheers.) We must not conclude that their efforts 
would have no other than scientific results; for it was men like 
Mr Scott-Elliot who were doing a great national service by 
