﻿ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXI 



In this memoir he gave a short account of the basaltic rocks of the 

 island, and pointed out several places where the associated secondary 

 formations contain ammonites and other fossils*. 



In June 1838, Lord Northampton read to the Society a second 

 paper, on those Foraminifera of the Chalk which are called Spiro- 

 linitesf. These original communications, and the fine collection of 

 fossil remains and simple minerals which he accumulated at Castle 

 Ashby, attest his love for Geology and Natural History, to the pro- 

 motion of which he successfully devoted so large a portion of his life. 

 During the ten years that he presided over the Royal Society, he 

 continued frequently to attend our meetings and to cultivate the ac- 

 quaintance and friendship of the most active of our members. 



Dr. Pye Smith, who was for so many years a constant attendant 

 at our meetings, was President of the Protestant Dissenting College 

 at Homerton, where he was also teacher of Divinity. In this influ- 

 ential position he had an opportunity of imparting to a wide circle of 

 pupils and admirers the interest which he felt in the new views 

 brought to light from time to time by Geology. His work on "The 

 Connection of Scripture and Geology," comprised a series of lectures 

 delivered at Homerton College, in which he endeavoured to compen- 

 sate for want of practical knowledge of the science by ample cita- 

 tions from the works of the best contemporary writers. He gave a 

 description, in their own words, of many newly discovered facts, and 

 a statement of the theories legitimately deduced from them, especially 

 those most opposed to popular notions derived from a literal inter- 

 pretation of the Hebrew cosmogony. He dwelt especially on the 

 earth's high antiquity, the many changes which took place in the 

 animate world antecedent to the creation of man, and the divergence 

 both of animals and plants from many original centres instead of their 

 multiplication from a single point. He also considered how far 

 geological facts are reconcileable with the commonly received notions 

 respecting a universal deluge, assumed to have happened only 4000 

 years before our time. He reminds his readers of the many texts of 

 Scripture formerly adduced as hostile to established astronomical doc- 

 trines respecting the structure of the universe. With much good 



* GpoI. Trans. 1st Ser. vol. v. p. 369. 



f See Proceedings of Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 685. 



