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you of two opposite facts recorded in papers very lately read in this 

 Society, especially as they strengthen an opinion advanced at our 

 last anniversary — that the river drainage of every physical region 

 is a complex result, always modified by local conditions, and often 

 depending upon the action of many successive causes. I have already 

 shown that in a part of Cumberland and Westmorland the valleys 

 are excavated upon the lines of ancient breaks or fissures. On the 

 contrary, in the neighbouring carboniferous chain of Yorkshire, the 

 faults and dislocations hardly ever range in the directions of the 

 valleys, and do not seem to have produced any sensible effect upon 

 the directions of the erosive currents. 



Again, the valleys of the carboniferous chain are of great depth, 

 and the strata on their opposite sides are generally horizontal and at 

 the same level ; yet within these valleys we have in every river and 

 every tributary torrent, proofs, in my opinion the most unequivocal, 

 that the channels where the waters now flow have only existed during 

 a very recent period. 



I mention these facts for the purpose of urging upon you the 

 important truths, that geology has little to do with the combinations 

 of simple elements, and that we are in most cases called upon 

 sternly to reject such conclusions as are founded only upon particular 

 phenomena. 



Such, Gentlemen, are the subjects which have come before us 

 during the past year. They are neither small in number nor unim- 

 portant in their objects ; and whatever may be their other merils,_ 

 they at least prove that our body has manifested the activity of 

 healthy life. As we advance on our way, we gain strength at 

 every step ; but new and loftier subjects of contemplation are con- 

 tinually rising up before us ; so that as yet we have no glimpse of 

 the furthest boundary to our prospects and our labours. And in all 

 this there is a perpetual motive for combination and energy and hope, 

 and for the exercise of all those faculties which are called forth in the 

 great journey of discovery. 



We have indeed neither the time nor the power to slumber ; and, 

 in spite of ourselves, we cannot but partake of that forward move- 

 ment by which all our neighbours are borne along. The continental 

 press teems with admirable works on every department of natural hi- 

 story ; and our subject has obtained, to say the least, its full share of 

 consideration. Professor Hoffman's map, alluded to in my former 

 address, will soon be illustrated by a work which promises fair to 

 make the north of Germany once more the classic land of geology. 

 The excellent Memoirs of MM. de Beaumont and Dufrenoy will 

 soon be followed by the Geological Map of France, — a great national 

 work, to appear, I hope, before the expiration of this year. I select 

 these subjects, not merely on account of their general importance, 

 but because they have an immediate relation to the structure of this 

 country, and to the best labours of our own body. 



The organization of the Geological Society of Paris belongs to the 

 history of the preceding year : and when we consider the incompa- 



