AlfNIVEESAR"? ADDEESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Clll 



in his important investigations into the fossil botany of the Ter- 

 tiary strata ; and the work which I am now noticing will, I think, 

 be a satisfactory proof of the correctness of the views of the Council 

 in having thus appreciated the labours of the distinguished botanist 

 of Zurich. I will endeavour as briefly as possible to give you some 

 idea of the grand generalizations accompanying the graphic pic- 

 tures by which he illustrates the geological phenomena of Switzer- 

 land. The first chapter commences with the following words : — 

 " In the mountainous region of our country is represented the 

 history of the earth. In the lofty cliffs and deep chasms, in the 

 wonderfully contorted masses of rocks, and the manifold convolu- 

 tions of mountain-chains are manifested the mighty revolutions- 

 which have aftected the earth's surface ; and in the numerous 

 plants and animals, the remains of which are imbedded in these 

 rocks, we see the periods of peaceable development." This first 

 chapter gives an account of the Carboniferous strata, the oldest 

 stratified rocks in Switzerland, some of which belong to the 

 Anthracitic period. The author then treats of its remarkable 

 vegetation, a subject to which his botanical knowledge gives addi- 

 tional interest. He shows that, without an exception, the plants 

 were all cryptogamous, the seeds or spores of which are so micro- 

 scopically minute that they are easily wafted by the winds or 

 other agencies from one country to another, developing themselves 

 wherever favourable conditions of life occur. He thus accounts 

 for the remarkable resemblance between the fossil flora of Europe 

 and America during the Carboniferous period, assisted by those 

 peculiar climatological conditions which then prevailed. The 

 plants themselves lived on a moist and marshy soil ; the earth was 

 probably surrounded by a thick mass of clouds, siuce with the 

 higher temperature of the ground there must have been more 

 moisture in the air than now. The influence of the sun must 

 consequently have been less, and the climate was chiefly regulated 

 by the high temperature of the earth. The author then compares 

 the flora of the Carboniferous period Avith that of the present day, 

 which is mainly phanerogamous, and varies greatly in diflerent 

 regions, owing partly to the greater variations of climate, which is 

 now more dependent on the local variations of the sun's power, 

 and partly also to the fact that the seeds of these plants, being 

 generally larger, are not so easily Avafted from place to place. 



In the account he gives of the history of coal, from the newest 

 peat to the anthracite of Wales, he maintains its vegetable origin 

 against a modern theory by which it is considered as a kind of 

 petroleum collected in holloAvs and depressions. He believes that 

 the real coal-formations have been formed in situ by the slow 

 change of decayed vegetation, Avhich, gradually losing the greater 

 part of its oxygen and a small proportion of hydrogen, comes 

 to consist at last in its anthracitic state of 94 per cent, of 

 carbon. 



He gives the folloAving as the two extremes of its chemical com- 

 position :— 



