84 Reports and Proceedings. 



Tlie great delight of such men as Mr. Kirk is to perch themselves 

 on some great man, — like Sir Charles Lyell for example — and then, 

 in the words of the fable of "The Fly on the coach- wheel," to ex- 

 claim " See what a dust I make !" But, like the fly, they don't 

 attract much notice after all. 



III. Mr. Pattison's pamphlet,^ both in style and matter, is well 

 written, and deserves a far more thoughtful consideration than the 

 foregoing Essays, being written by a gentleman who is a careful 

 observer, and a very good geologist. It is likewise an attempt at a 

 reconciliation of Geology with the Scriptures. The evidence of 

 fossils is dismissed by the author with the remark, that the Scrip- 

 tures do not refer to them at all. 



Mr. Pattison's main argument is, that the antiquity of man ought 

 not to be so far extended beyond the date assigned by Scripture 

 Chronologists, because " Geology affords no reliable scale of time." 

 But, may we not venture to ask, is Archdeacon Usher's chronology 

 more indisputable than that of the Hindoos or Chinese ? We cannot 

 tell exactly how long it has taken to deposit the beds of gravel, clay, 

 and brick-earth containing the Flint Implements ; for the widening, 

 scooping out, and partial refilling of our present valleys ; for the 

 formation of peat, containing stone, bronze, and. iron implements, 

 corresponding pretty nearly with the successive flourishing of the 

 Scotch fir, the oak, and the beech, and indicating three different 

 periods of civilization. "Nevertheless," to quote Mr. Prestwich, 

 "just as, though ignorant of the precise height and size of a 

 mountain-range seen in the distance, we need not wait for trigono- 

 metrical measurements to feel satisfied in our minds of the 

 magnitude of the distant peaks ; so with this geological epoch, we 

 see and know enough of it to feel how distant it is from our time, 

 and yet we are not in a position at present to solve with accuracy 

 the curious and interesting problem of its precise age." [Phil. 

 Trans. 1864, p. 303.] 



Geological Socibtt of London. — December 23rd, 1868. — Pro- 

 fessor T. H. Huxley, LL.D., F.E.S., President, in the chair. 1. "On 

 the so-called ' Eozoonal ' Eock." By Prof. W. King and Dr, T. H. 

 Eowney. Communicated by Sir E. L Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., 

 E.E.S., V.P.G.S. 



The authors noticed that, since the reading of their former com- 

 munication in 1866, further descriptions of Eozoon have been 

 published by Hochstetter, Giimbel, Carpenter, Dawson, and Logan ; 

 and after a few words on those by the first two, they proceeded to 

 criticise the others more fully, intimating that the English and 

 Canadian observers have by no means mastered all the difficulties of 

 the subject, nor answered the objections brought forward by them, 



1 New Facts and Old Eecords ; A Plea for Genesis. By S. E. Pattison, F.G.S. 

 8to. pp. 32. London : Jackson & Co. 



