XXVm PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Alexander Robertson, whose name as a geologist was 

 best known to us with the affix " of Elgin," was born at Aberdeen in 

 the year 1816, and after an education, conducted partly in England 

 and partly in Scotland, became a pupil of Professor Syme, and 

 studied medicine at Edinburgh. Disliking his intended profession, 

 he soon abandoned it, and after studying science in Germany, re- 

 turned to Scotland and settled in Morayshire, to pursue farming, I 

 regret to say without success, since his death left a widow and four 

 children unprovided for. Mr, Robertson's name is familiar to you as 

 that of the discoverer of Freshwater beds intercalated in the Oolites of 

 Brora. He communicated his observations on this subject to our 

 Society, and subsequently (May 1846) a longer memoir "On the 

 Wealden Beds of Brora, Sutherland shire, with Remarks on the Rela- 

 tions of the Wealden Strata and Stonesfield Slate to the rest of the 

 Jurassic System, and on the Marine Contemporary of the Wealden 

 Strata above the Portland Stone;" an essay remarkable for its 

 thoughtful and suggestive character. In this paper he pleaded 

 forcibly for Sir Roderick Murchison's view of the Oolitic relations of 

 the Wealden ; some recent discoveries have in great part supported 

 the argument maintained by Mr. Robertson. 



Mr. Henry William Taylor was well known to the Members 

 of our Society for his fine collection of Chalk fossils, which he spared 

 neither time nor expense to bring together. 



I shall not venture. Gentlemen, in the following Address to discuss 

 fully and in all its details any one subject, in the manner so admirably 

 and usefully done by my immediate predecessor, but follow the plan 

 pursued by not a few of the distinguished men who have filled this 

 Chair, of presenting to jou in brief a summary of the leading features 

 of geological progress during the year just passed, and a commentary 

 on the aspects and aspirations of our science as manifested and indi- 

 cated by the more salient labours of geologists during 1853. To do 

 this thoroughly would require more leisure and a greater command 

 of foreign languages than, unfortunately, I possess ; but without pro- 

 fessing to furnish a complete report, I hope to be useful by indicating 

 the merits of that which has priacipally been done during the period 

 I have had the distinguished honour of filling your presidency. If I 

 claim the privilege of occasional criticism and difference of opinion, 

 the responsibility of objections must fall entirely on myself, and if, 

 through inadvertence, I commit injustice, by passing unnoticed any 

 essay of merit and consequence, I trust on a futm'e occasion to rectify 

 the mistake and to render the acknowledgement that is due. 



That the greater part of my report vdW take cognizance of Geology 

 tmder its palaeontological aspects, is a circumstance not dependent on 

 my own predilections or pccuhar line of study ; it so happens that 

 the majority of important papers published during the past year have 

 been more or less of this character, and some of the most valuable 

 of recent contributions to our science concern principally the natural 



