9 2 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



of the nature of picnics, popular lectures with 

 lantern illustrations, and general discussions at or 

 after meetings. Surely there is no ground for 

 such serious apprehensions, we need not argue 

 from the British Association. The same rules 

 that apply to the election of gentlemen as Fellows 

 would of course apply to the ladies who might 

 from time to time be proposed. But one of the 

 essential parts of my scheme is the admission of 

 a very large number of members of both sexes as 

 Members only. The conditions of their election 

 would be easier and all who were genuinely interested 

 in Geology might be eligible. It is only, or chiefly, 

 in this way that a large annual subscription, list 

 could be depended upon, and if the reforms here 

 indicated, are to be carried out, it. is obvious that 

 the sinews of war must be provided in no small 

 measure. The subscription list must be raised 

 from something over £2,000 as it is now, to £5,000 

 or £6,000 at least, and I do not see how this can 

 be done without admitting ladies. Members should 

 not be admitted to the ordinary meetings except 

 by special written permission from a Fellow, 

 though perhaps a gallery or some special part 

 of the meeting room might be set apart for 

 members. Under my scheme special meetings 

 would be held for the benefit of members and their 

 friends. Members would be allowed to purchase 

 the Quarterly Journals of the Society at a special 

 rate, but their subscription alone would not entitle 

 them to receive it free, as the Fellows do now. 

 This brings us to a very important part of the 

 scheme. 



6. Fortnightly Meetings in the Lecture 

 Theatre to alternate with ordinary meetings, at 

 which both Members and Fellows would meet to 

 hear good illustrated lectures on really interesting 

 and important subjects, and to join in the discus- 

 sions afterwards. The papers or lectures on these 

 occasions to be of a more general nature than the 

 elaborate original papers now usually read by 

 fellows, with details that only appeal to a few 

 specialists. I cannot help thinking that even 

 many of the Fellows would find these meetings 

 both interesting and instructive. Take, for example, 

 the case of a specialist, either in petrology, in 

 field-work, or in palaeontology ; unless he happens 

 to be a lecturer or professor in some university, or 

 in some way engaged in teaching geology, is it 

 not pretty certain that his general knowledge of 

 geology is getting somewhat rusty ? In that case, 

 would it not be a good thing for him to come to 

 such meetings, listen to the paper or lecture, and 

 join in the discussion afterwards, if he be so 

 inclined ? Many of the Members present would 

 be eager young students fresh from schools and 

 colleges, and ready to enter keenly into any of the 

 deeply-interesting physical, chemical, and biological 

 problems that present themselves to the geologist. 



I can imagine that many an evening might be 

 profitably spent in discussing such problems as the 

 age of the earth ; the origin of mountains ; the 

 causes of earthquakes and volcanoes ; the astro- 

 nomical theory of the ice-age ; the permanence of 

 ocean-basins (or the contrary) ; the origin of lakes 

 of all kinds ; the former existence of a great ant- 

 arctic continent, such as seems to be implied by the 

 curious distribution of animals at the present 

 day ; the conclusions to be drawn from the re- 

 searches on the deep-sea deposits by the " Chal- 

 lenger " and other expeditions; former changes 

 in climate, as indicated by fossils ; problems in 

 evolution, such as possible causes of extinction of 

 certain groups of plants and animals ; problems in 

 ancient geography ; the origin of our chalk ; or, to 

 turn to a rather different subject, methods of 

 teaching might be discussed with advantage. It 

 goes without saying that members attending such 

 meetings would learn a great deal and would be 

 encouraged in their studies. Besides, they would 

 often in this way hear of new books and new 

 sources of information that might be useful to 

 them. Everyone who studies any science at all 

 deeply finds that much time is spent in getting on 

 the track of the literature of his subject, especially 

 with regard to foreign publications. But let it not 

 be assumed that all the benefit would be on one 

 side. There must be a good many members of 

 every learned society who, though they may have 

 read a useful paper on some particular question, or 

 have described some new species of fossil or living 

 animals, yet have perhaps only a very limited 

 acquaintance with the principles of the particular 

 science to which their society is devoted. Thus it 

 does not follow that because a Fellow of the 

 Geological Society has described certain igneous 

 rocks, or done a little bit of field work somewhere, 

 or devoted a few years to working at some small 

 group of fossils, that he therefore possesses any 

 particular knowledge on some of the questions 

 which we have enumerated above. Unless he is a 

 teacher of geology in one way or another it is 

 highly probable that, by attending such meetings, 

 he would greatly improve his general knowledge of 

 geology. Admission to a learned society does not 

 require any very great amount of learning, and it is 

 possible that in future some stricter kind of test, 

 or even an examination, may be required. 



7. An Annual Conversazione. — Such evening 

 meetings of a social character have occasionally 

 been held, but the expense was found to be too great- 

 Now, it seems to me a pity that such pleasant 

 opportunities of mutual intercourse should be 

 altogether abandoned. Surely we could find a 

 way out of the difficulty, and a more economical 

 manner of setting about the matter. It can hardly 

 be necessary to spend some £50 or more on such 

 an evening's entertainment, as I am told has been 



