ANNIVERSAEY ADDKESS OF THE PKESIDENT. CVll 



II. The Middle Miocene is a marine deposit, divided into the 

 Subalpine Molasse and the Muschel Sandstein. 



III. The Upper Miocene is again freshwater, consisting of the 

 Upper Brown-coal and the (Eningen beds. 



The various local changes produced by the different upheavals 

 and subsidences of the land are carefully described ; the covirses 

 of the different rivers of this old-world period, and the distribution 

 of land and sea at different epochs, are also given ; and it is shown 

 that both the Alpine chain and the Jura, though in a very modi- 

 fied condition, existed as dry land at the time of the deposit of 

 the marine beds of the Molasse. 



But I can only hint at the contents of the following chapters. 

 G^Tie eighth contains an account of the Elora, and the ninth of the 

 Fauna of the Molasse. In the tenth chapter special Miocene 

 localities, as Lausanne, ffiningen, &c., are described. The CEnin- 

 gen deposit is most remartable ; it contains 475 species of plants, 

 and 922 species of animals, of which 826 are insects. It is 

 therefore highly probable that the vegetation of the surrounding 

 country must have been rich and luxuriant, and that the climate, 

 which is treated of in the next chapter (the eleventh), must have 

 been subtropical, although not quite so warm as in the earlier 

 periods of the Molasse formation, thereby indicating a gradual 

 diminution of temperature. 



The next chapter (twelfth) gives an account of the Slate-coal 

 of Utznach and Diirnten. The fossil contents of the beds are en- 

 tirely different from those of the Molasse. They greatly resemble 

 those of the present day ; and the great gap which intervenes 

 between these two periods probably represents the Pliocene age. 



The thirteenth chapter is devoted to an account of the Glacial 

 period, the phenomena by which it was accompanied, the com- 

 mencement and extent of the glaciers, their effects on the soil, 

 and the long period dui'ing which they endured. This epoch 

 is divided into two periods, and the interglacial epoch between 

 them is supposed to represent the time when the schistose or slaty 

 coal of Utznach was formed. I must pass over the interesting 

 remarks respecting the flora of this period, and the effects which 

 the glacial epoch had in modifying and destroying that subtropical 

 flora which existed during the Miocene age, but which was re- 

 placed by the appearance of man on the earth towards the close of 

 the diluvial period. 



The next chapter (fourteenth) gives a brief retrospective view of 

 the great changes which the earth's surface has iiudergone from the 

 age of the metamorphic rocks to the present day, and of the 

 different formations which have been successively deposited, and 

 then broken up and overturned, modifying the general appearance 

 of the country and giving it its present form. 



The fifteenth and last chapter, which treats of the general 

 considerations respecting the formation and modification of the 

 country, is divided into two parts. Tlie first refers to inorganic 

 nature, the second. to organic. The first part is again subdivided 

 into the three following heads : — 



