XCn PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



That department of our science wliich depends on the apphcation 

 of mechanical and physical principles, though gradually advancing, 

 has been, and still remains much slower in its progress than that 

 which depends on the natural sciences. The primary reason of this 

 is probably to be found in the essential difficulty of the physical and 

 dynamical problems of geology ; but another reason presents itself 

 in the fact, that while so many accomjDlished naturalists have devoted 

 themselves to the study of geology, so few persons, whose primary 

 studies have been those of mechanical and physical science, have 

 paid any attention to the subject. The consequence is, that not only 

 is the advance of the science comparatively sIoav in the suggestion and 

 solution of new physical problems, but that vague and not imfrequently 

 erroneous notions with respect to those problems which have been 

 long discussed and investigated, are still too current amongst us. It 

 is especially to be regretted that chemistry has hitherto done so little 

 for us, though it is doubtless destined to create in geology one of the 

 most interesting branches of the science. But before this can be 

 effected, men with accurate knowledge and enlarged views respecting 

 the nature and operation of chemical principles, must devote them- 

 selves also to the study of geology, for without such study they will 

 never sufficiently understand the conditions under which Nature has 

 elaborated her work in producing the vast variety of phsenomena of 

 which the external crust of our globe is the great repository. We 

 cannot be too earnest in our endeavours to enlist such men in the 

 cause of our science. We may then hope to see this branch of it 

 advancing in a degree commensurate with the progress of those 

 branches to which the attention of geologists has been hitherto more 

 especially devoted. 



And now. Gentlemen, having performed the last duty of my presi- 

 dency, let me again express to you the sense I entertain of the honour 

 you conferred upon me in electing me to the office, and of the kind- 

 ness and courtesy I have received from you during my tenure of it. 

 To those gentlemen who have served on the Council of the Society 

 during the last two years, I owe my especial thanks for the prompt 

 assistance I have uniformly received from them in the performance 

 of my duties. And finally. Gentlemen, I would congratulate you on 

 your choice of a successor to the chair which I now A^acate, for we 

 can only regard him as one who cannot fail to perform the duties of 

 his office in a manner honourable to himself and conducive to the best 

 interests of the Society. 



