637 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, 
R. I. Murcuison, Esa. F.R.S. 
GENTLEMEN, 
ALTHOUGH acquainted with my intended absence from this country 
during many months of the past year, you nevertheless honoured 
me with the station which I occupy, kindly intimating that the ac- 
tive pursuits of geology should not be a bar to the enjoyment of the 
chief distinction which you can confer. In thanking you sincerely 
for that proof of your good opinion, permit me to say, that if the 
presiding over a body of gentlemen so well knit together for a com- 
mon purpose, were all that you expected from me, light as well as 
agreeable would be the task. A charge, however, of a more serious 
nature is the composition of an anniversary discourse, in which I 
am expected to treat of the progress of geology during the past 
year. So very expanded is the present condition of our science, 
that he who attempts to give a clear synopsis of all that has been 
done in different parts of the globe, even in one year, and to in- 
dicate the desiderata to be accomplished, must make himself master 
of numerous foreign works. An active observer cannot well exe- 
cute such a task. On the other hand, if your President should simply 
review the last year’s proceedings of our own Society, he will but 
poorly serve you, for our abstracts make you well acquainted with 
the prominent facts and opinions of the authors. I will, therefore, 
adopt a middle course, and without attempting a complete sketch of 
the progress of geology, or tirimg you with a dry analysis of our 
performances, permit me to select for your consideration what I con- 
sider to be the chief subjects of present geological interest, whether 
foreign or British, and so class them that their bearing upon the 
advance of our science may at once be seized. If in so doing I 
should fail to illustrate points which some of you may consider to 
be better suited to this address than those which I bring before you, 
T trust you will recollect how brief is the season during which I 
have been able to detach myself from my own line of inquiry, and 
how imperfectly, therefore, I have been able to study the works of 
my contemporaries. 
: OBITUARY. 
Before we enter upon the consideration of the progress of geo- 
logy, let us pay our homage to the memory of those deceased Fel- 
lows who laboured to promote our science. 
On this occasion we have to mourn over one whose genius has 
won for himself an imperishable name. By the purest feeling of the 
beauties of nature, by the manly simplicity of his character, and by 
his sterling good sense, CHANTREY was led to his peculiar excellences 
as an artist. Admiring him for his unrivalled excellence in art, we 
geologists loved him also for the endearing ‘qualities of the man. 
Sir Francis Chantrey was a member of our Council, a frequent 
attendant both at our social meetings and in the rooms of the 
Society, and on all occasions was happy to serve us, though inyari- 
ably on one condition, that he was never put prominently forward. 
