134 



the problem, to explain the condition of the earth's surface at 

 any moment of this career, is complicated as much perhaps as 

 any other in physics, from the nature of the agents ; of which change 

 and irregularity appear to be essential characteristics. The degrada- 

 tion of the surface by the atmosphere, the erosion of streams and tor- 

 rents, the encroachments of the sea, the growth and decay of the or- 

 ganized beings that successively inhabit the globe, with all the che- 

 mical and mechanical changes going on around us, though con- 

 stantly in operation, are for ever varying in their energies and 

 effects. The great phenomena of volcanic agency, which seems as 

 it were to constitute one of the vital powers of the earth, are from 

 their very nature transitory and erratic. Viewed, nevertheless, in 

 relation to the vast periods of time, during which phenomena of the 

 same kind have been continually recurring, these very accidents and 

 apparent irregularities acquire a sort of uniformity. They intimate 

 the repetition of results in future, resembling those which seem al- 

 ready to have occurred repeatedly in the history of the globe; and 

 that part of the Huttonian theory, where the progress of geological 

 revolution has been compared to the cycles, in the movements of the 

 heavenly bodies, — in which, after a long series of periodical devia- 

 tions, the same order is certain to recur*,— seems to acquire new 

 probability from every step of our progress, and to be really no 

 less just, in a philosophic view, than it is captivating to the ima- 

 gination. You need no incitement to persevere in such inquiries 

 as these ; your presence here is proof that you feel the attraction 

 of them:— and if the conduct of your affairs calls off from the more 

 seductive occupation of research, those who undertake the dis- 

 charge of your official duties, they are consoled by the hope that 

 they may have been of service to you, and by the proofs they 

 continually receive of your confidence and indulgence. Of the value 

 of these rewards, no one is more sensible than the person who now 

 addresses you : — I thank you, Gentlemen, most sincerely for the 

 kindness with which you have assisted me in the discharge of my 

 duties as President ; and, in transferring my office to the able hands 

 by which it will be directed during the next two years, I bid you, 

 most respectfully, Farewell. 



The Meeting then proceeded to the election of the Officers and 



* " The Geological system of Dr. Hutton resembles, in many respects, that 

 which appears to preside over the heavenly motions. In both, we perceive 

 continual vicissitude and change ; but confined within certain limits, and 

 never departing far from a certain mean condition, which is such, that in the 

 lapse of time the deviations from it on the one side must become just equal 

 to the deviations from it on the other. In both, a provision is made for 

 duration of unlimited extent ; and the lapse of time has no effect to wear 

 out or destroy a machine constructed with so much wisdom." — Playfair's 

 Illustrations: — § 387, note xx. 



