ANNIVEESART ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXxili 



grauwacke and the red sands and conglomerates, but the limits 

 of his two formations do not correspond with those of the two 

 series which more recent investigations have established. 



Mr. Horner concludes his paper by recommending to the 

 attention of future geologists, the singular accumulations of 

 conglomerates which he had described, and adds, " The apparent 

 alternation of the lyas (sic) strata witlx the red rock on the shore 

 also deserves an attentive examination, and there appears to me an 

 excellent opportunity in this district of investigating the history 

 of that red rock, about which so little is yet known, though occur- 

 ring to so great an extent throughout England." 



On the whole, it is impossible to read these early papers of 

 Mr. Horner without admiring the cautious manner in which he 

 avoids a too hasty generalization. He clearly saw, as it were, 

 glimmering in the distance, some of the great principles and laws 

 which have regulated the order of superposition and the stratifica- 

 tion of the various formations ; but the great laws of palaeontology, 

 and the now well-known order of succession in the history of organic 

 life were then only just beginning to be understood. Eacts were 

 wanting to enable the geologist to understand the true order of 

 superposition, and we thus find Mr. Horner carefully avoiding 

 theories, but anxiously endeavouring to collect all the facts he 

 could, for the use of those who might follow him, and thus help- 

 ing to lay the foundation of those principles which have, chiefly 

 by the labours of Murchison and Sedgwick, been so successfully 

 applied to the history of the Palaeozoic rocks. 



About this time, however, it appears that, in consequence of 

 the state of his father's business, with whom he was a partner, 

 Mr. Horner was obliged to leave London, and again to take up 

 his residence in Edinburgh. But these plans were soon interfered 

 with by other duties. The declining health of his brother Erancis 

 compelled him to seek a warmer climate for the restoration of his 

 health, and Mr. Horner accompanied his brother to Italy. Alas ! 

 the attempt was useless. His hopes were disappointed, and the 

 career of the rising politician was cut short. Erancis Horner 

 died in Italy in 1817, and Leonard Horner returned sorrowing 

 to Scotland to resume his former occupation. 



But Edinburgh in those days was not a place where a man like 

 Mr. Horner could long remain inactive. He soon found himself 

 in a circle of friends of congenial taste, and, combining his love 

 of science with that of literature and politics, he formed one of 

 the band of Whig politicians for which Edinburgh had become 

 so well known. The biographer of Erancis Jeff'rey, Lord Cock- 

 burn, gives Mr. Horner the chief merit in the organization of 

 their political meetings. It was whilst living in such companion- 

 ship that in 1821 he first conceived the idea of founding, in 

 Edinburgh, an institution for the instruction of mechanics, similar 

 to that which already existed in Glasgow; and in October of that 

 year the School of Arts was formally opened by the Lord Provost. 

 He was also one of the chief founders of the Academy establislied 



