AKNIVERSAKY ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. xHx 



whicli lie was the sole possessor, was such that science will long 

 deplore his loss as a palaeontologist of the first order, and it will 

 be long before any follower in his footsteps can collect the mass 

 of information which he had made his own. Por several years 

 the state of his health had led him to pass the winter season 

 amidst the milder climates of Italy or Sicily, and it is much to be 

 feared that the want of this precaution during the past winter 

 has led to the sad result which we now all deplore. Dr. Falconer 

 became a Fellow of this Society in 1842. He was also a Fellow 

 and Vice-President of the Eoyal Society. In him we have also 

 lost a useful Foreign Secretary, an office which he has held for 

 three years. 



The Duke of Newcastle was born in 1811, and, like most 

 young men in his position, was educated at Eton and at Cln'ist- 

 church. Devoted to public life, he was an admirer rather than a 

 cultivator of geological science. His political career is, however, 

 so well knovni that it is needless for me to allude to it on this 

 occasion. At the same time I cannot omit stating that, having 

 twice held the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies, we 

 are indebted to him for communicating to us from time to time 

 copies of interesting reports received from Colonial Governors, 

 several of Avhich have appeared in our Journal. 



The Eael oe Ilchester, better known to us as Mr. Strangways, 

 was born in 1795. For many years he followed the diplomatic 

 career. 



In 1821 Mr. Strangways read a paper entitled " An Outline of 

 the Greology of Russia," published in the following year in the 

 first volume of the second series of our Transactions. Although 

 now rendered obsolete by the more perfect and detailed accounts 

 of the Geology of Russia by Sir Eoderick Murchison and his 

 companions, it must at the time have been a very valuable addi- 

 tion to the knowledge of continental geology. But, like most of 

 the geological memoirs of that time, it is decidedly more minera- 

 logical than geological. It principally consists of lithological de- 

 scriptions of the various formations observed by the author, with 

 full accounts of their mineral contents. At the same time many 

 of the geological features which have since been so fully illus- 

 trated did not escape the keen observation of Mr. Strangways. 

 He points out the analogy between the primitive rocks of Finland 

 and those of Sweden, of which he considers them a prolongation. 

 He describes the evident traces of diluvial action throughout the 

 whole of Finland as existing on the most astonishing scale, every 

 hill-top of granite or primitive rock presenting a surface as much 

 rounded and as visibly water-worn as the boulders or colossal 

 pebbles that lie around their bases. He clearly perceived the 

 Palaeozoic character of the fossil remains in the limestone of the 

 Valdai Hills, and compares the Madrepores to those of the 

 Mountain-limestone in Northumberland. A sort of Briarean 



VOL. XXI. d 



