Geological Society of London. 7 
Nor can we aftirm that the oldest of the unstratified rocks hith- 
erto discovered is more ancient than the oldest stratified formations 
known to us; we cannot even decide the relations in point of age of 
the most ancient granite to the oldest fossiliferous beds. 
But why, I may ask, should man, to whom the early history of 
his own species and the rise of nations presents so obscure a prob- 
lem, feel disappointed if he fail to trace back the animate world to 
its first origin? Already has the beginning of things receded  be- 
fore our researches to times immeasurably distant. Why then, after 
wandering back in imagination through a boundless lapse of years, 
should we expect to find any resting-place for our thoughts, or hope 
to assign a limit to the periods of past time throughout which it has 
pleased an omnipotent and eternal Being to manifest his creative 
power ? 
But it is not my intention to advert now to these and other points 
on which I happen to differ from Dr. Buckland. I would rather 
express the gratification I feel in finding myself in perfect accord- 
ance with him on so many subjects. His work is admirably adapted 
to convey instruction on organic remains, and other departments of 
geology, both to beginners and to those well versed in the science, 
and is characterized throughout by a truly philosophical spirit, which 
betrays no desire to adhere tenaciously to dogmas impugned or re- 
futed by the modern progress of science. On the contrary, the au- 
thor has abandoned several opinions which he himself had formerly 
advocated ; and although still attached to the theory which teaches 
the turbulent condition of the planet when the lias and other fossil- 
iferous rocks were formed, and the general insufficiency of existing 
causes to explain the changes which have occurred on the earth, he 
yet refers in almost all parts of his book to the ordinary operations 
of nature to explain a variety of phenomena once supposed to be 
the result of causes different in kind and degree from those now 
acting. 
{ have now, Gentlemen, only to offer you my acknowledgments 
for the high honor conferred upon me by my election to fill the Presi- 
dent’s chair for the last two years; and it is a source of great satis- 
faction to me to feel assured of the continued prosperity and useful- 
ness of the association when I resign my trust into the hands of a 
successor so distinguished for his zeal, talents, and varied acquire- 
ments as Mr. Whewell. 
