ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THK PRESIDENT. Ivii 



subject, reasons a priori for supposing that these diiferent directions 

 of the great circles of reference must be connected by any law of 

 symmetry such as that of the pentagonal reseaii 1 Now, since we 

 shall all agree that these phsenomena are referable to the continued 

 action of physical causes, we must all agree that they must be con- 

 nected by some law. Also, admitting the theory of successive col- 

 lapses of the earth's crust, we may admit the symmetrical action of 

 gravity, the principal cause of the phfenomenon ; but this will give 

 us but a vague idea of the directions of the great circles along which 

 the crust will yield in these successive collapses, and no idea what- 

 ever of the points at which such yieldings may begin. These direc- 

 tions and commencing points must generally be determined by local 

 causes, of which we are, and must probably ever remain, profoundly 

 ignorant. It is therefore that I conclude that no well-founded con- 

 viction of the probable existence of symmetrical relations between 

 the lines in question can be deduced from accurate mechanical 

 reasoning. The theory of the reseaii pentagonal can, in raj opinion, 

 derive no support from that source. 



You will perceive, Gentlemen, that the two parts of M. de Beau- 

 mont's theory are distinct from each other. The first part might 

 be true to the fullest extent to which it can be asserted, while 

 the second might have no real foundation to rest upon ; and it is 

 important that we should bear this distinction in mind. I cannot 

 place them at all on the same level as regards the evidence adduced 

 in their support, and the claims v/hich they have to our attention. I 

 should be sorry to express a harsh or hasty judgment on them. 

 There is much in the attempt of this eminent geologist to establish 

 his theory of the pentagonal reseaii, which carries with it mv own 

 sympathy. I believe that every truly earnest explorer of the works 

 of Nature must have his mind deeply imbued with the conviction 

 that in every part of her domain the phsenomena she presents to us 

 stand in relations to each other which we express by the term law, 

 and that his deepest longings will be for the discovery of such laws. 

 It will frequently be the hope of such discovery which alone could 

 carry him through the laborious details of his researches. No reader 

 of M. de Beaumont's work can fail to recognize this spirit and feeling 

 in its author ; and this is entitled to our sympathy and admiration. 

 An impartial mind can scarcely help wishing for the success of 

 eiforts of the combination of ability, ingenuity, and knowledge like 

 those exhibited in the work before us. At the same time we are 

 bound to recollect that the higher such efforts are, the greater danger 

 may there be that the final judgment of the man who makes them 

 may be unduly warped in its application to the results of his own 

 researches. We may thus be called upon to admire the intellectual 

 power of the philosopher, while we have no faith in the theory 

 which he advocates. Such is my own feehng with respect to M. de 

 Beaumont. I should fail in justice to him if I were not to testify 

 to the great ability and knowledge displayed in his work, and I 

 should be deficient, Gentlemen, in that open and truthful expression 



