ANTSTIVEESAET ADDRESS OP THE PEESIDEJTT. XCIU 



in these river-gravels were washed into tliem out of preexisting 

 beds in which they had been originally entombed, or from off the 

 surface of the land where they had perished, on the commence- 

 ment of the glacial period ? 



Miscellaneous. — Amongst recent geological works of a more 

 general character, I have much pleasure in now directing your 

 attention to the new edition published by Sir Charles Lyell of 

 his ' Elements of Greology.' The alterations and amendments in 

 this volume are both numerous and important, but both the time 

 and space at my command will only allow me to notice some of 

 the principal points which a somewhat hasty inspection of the 

 work, comparing it with the previous edition, has enabled me to 

 notice. I may at once mention that not only have many portions 

 of it been entirely rewritten and recast, but that it contains 130 

 more pages, and above fifty additional woodciits. 



The tabular view of the fossiliferous strata is recast, and chapter 

 10, on recent and Postpliocene periods, contains much new matter : 

 the latter part is entirely rewritten, as well as a considerable por- 

 tion of the following chapter on the glacial period. The erosion 

 of lake-basins by ice is discussed in the 12th chapter, and Sir 

 Charles maintains the opinion he had already expressed in the 

 'Antiqviity of Man,' against the views of Prof. Eamsay and 

 others who have adopted the ice-eroding theory, and he recalls 

 attention to the theory of unequal movements of upheaval and 

 subsidence which he then brought forward. 



But by far the greatest addition of new matter will be found in 

 the 18th, 14th, 15th, and IGth chapters, which treat of the Tertiary 

 formations, and much of which is entirely rewritten. The author 

 has somewhat modified his views respecting those intermediate 

 beds of Grermany and Paris, which are placed by Prof. Beyrich in 

 the Middle Oligocene, including the Mayence-basin and the Pon- 

 tainebleau sands. This arrangement would make the gypsum of 

 Montmartre the uppermost of the Eocene subdivisions ; yet even 

 adopting this view to a certain extent, he shows that the difiiculty 

 of drawing a line between Lower Oligocene and Eocene is as great 

 as between Lower Miocene and Eocene ; but, as he observes, Vfe 

 are now arriving at that stage of progress when the line, wherever 

 it be drawn, will be only an arbitrary one, or one of mere conve- 

 nience. 



Of all these, however, the 15th contains by far the greatest 

 quantity of new matter of any chapter in the voliune. It shows 

 the enormous stride which the Botany of tlie Tertiary strata has 

 made of late years, owing in a great measure to the successful 

 labours of Prof. Heer of Zurich, according to whose observa- 

 tions it appears that a fossil flora is of much greater importance 

 in enabling us to identify and classify the middle Tertiary strata 

 than has hitherto been generally admitted ; and in illustration of 

 this question, Sir C. Lyell gives a full account of the fossil flora of 

 the Upper freshwater Molasse as seen in the valley of (Eningen. 



Much interest will also attach to the account liere giveii of the 



