ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XCl 



Lyell on the Tertiaries of Belgium, together with a brief review of 

 the labours of other geologists in this department, among whom I 

 may particularly mention our associate Mr. Prestwich, whom we have 

 so much reason to regard as one of the best authorities in Tertiary 

 geology, and whose papers exhibit so excellent a combination of care- 

 ful observation and cautious philosophical induction. But I may, 

 perhaps, be allowed to express the hope that the subject may fall 

 into the abler hands of the distinguished geologist whose accession to 

 the Chair which I have had the honour to occupy, we all hail with 

 so much satisfaction. I regret also to pass over Mr. Logan's paper 

 On the Potsdam Sandstone Footprints, and Prof. Owen's clear and 

 beautiful explanation of them, with no further notice than the bare 

 mention of them. But for these and other like omissions I can only 

 again plead the excuse of want of time and the length to which this 

 Address has already extended. 



I cannot close this Address without a word of congratulation on 

 the steady progress of our science, and on the part which our own 

 country, and this Society m particular, are taking in promoting it. 

 The results of our Geological Survey cannot fail to be of vast import- 

 ance to speculative as well as to practical geology, and forcibly exem- 

 plify to us the value of accurate, and the uselessness of vague and 

 careless observation. Palaeontology is steadily advancing, though ar- 

 rived at that stage in which further advance becomes more and more 

 difficult, and only to be made by the most accomplished naturalist 

 and anatomist. The works proceeding from the Palseontographical 

 Society and the palaeontologists of the Survey, are embodying and 

 placing within the reach of the geologist an immense mass of palfe- 

 ontological knowledge. And here I must not omit mention of the 

 admirable work done by Prof. M'Coy in the arrangement of the 

 Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge, which is now become so noble 

 a monument to the zeal, the energy, and the liberality of my friend 

 Prof. Sedgwick. There is probably no palaeontologist of eminence 

 who is not already acquainted with the description of the Palaeozoic 

 Fossils of this museum written by Prof. M'Coy, and recently pub- 

 hshed by Prof. Sedgwick. I feel it more especially incumbent upon 

 me to notice this work, because I am able to bear personal testimony 

 to the unwearied labour and care with which the writer has prepared 

 it, and the accuracy of the drawings representing some of the more 

 imperfectly known objects in the museum. Prof. M'Coy, also, has 

 not forgotten that when the palaeontologist has described all the 

 species of a great collection, his work may yet be imperfect without 

 those facilities of references which the geologist may frequently 

 require. He has not only given a systematic list of the Lower 

 Palaeozoic fossils with references to their localities, but also an alpha- 

 betical list of all the localities, with an enumeration of the fossils 

 derived from each of them. All aids of this kind which can be de- 

 rived from tabular arrangements become of the greater importance in 

 proportion to the accumulation of palaeontological facts and geological 

 requirements. 



