OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 23 



to have been able to place them much farther back in the age of the 

 globe. The specimens presented to us are to be found in the Nia- 

 gara rocks around us. They are, it is true, not of a size equal to 

 that of those found in the chalk of a more recent age, but they are 

 in very great numbers. So that it is apparent that there was in the 

 Silurian seas no lack of material for the growth of sponge and for 

 the accretion of flint. 



We shall not venture to estimate the range of the facts pointed 

 out by Colonel Grant. We venture to express a hope that our friend's 

 name shall be associated with new light, cast by his endeavors, on 

 the formation of flints and their relation to sponges, questions on 

 which there is as yet some confusion among geologists. 



We offer our hearty thanks to Colonel Grant for his donation, 

 and our not less hearty congratulations on his successful pursuit of 

 his favorite science, and on the untiring industry with which we have 

 seen that pursuit carried on. 



There are many other geological specimens of interest, which 

 our friends of the geological section have been arranging in the several 

 cases around us, as rapidly as the time at their command would al- 

 low. When they have finished their work and a full view is had of 

 the shelves and cases, as they shall have left them, there can be no 

 doubt but what our first thought shall be, how well those cases look, 

 and our second, how much better would they look if there were 

 many more fossils in them. I hope our young geologists will take 

 care that this regretful reflection shall not be of long continuance. 

 There are many reasons why they should be ardent and industrious, 

 and to one pressing reason I shall advert by and by. In the mean- 

 time they need not be discouraged, as so many of us are liable to 

 be, by the reflection that even if they do fall in with valuable fossils, 

 they are sure to be tossed about and spoiled, or altogether lost dur- 

 ing the many migrations of their owners, in this as yet half nomadic 

 continent of ours. We would say and assure all friends, that let 

 anything of reasonable value be found and brought to us, and we 

 will at once agree to give it a place in which to lie, we shall take 

 care of it, and we shall treat it in all respects as if it were our own. 

 We have also a small collection of objects in natural history. We 

 do not boast of it, but we welcome it as a beginning, and hope to 

 see it from time to time increase. It will be more satisfactory, of 



