ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. CXIX 



the proportionate variation in each ; and such must evidently be the 

 right system of comparison between distant deposits in which the 

 amount of local variation so much exceeds that of general affinity. 

 Here and there may be found some bed or beds so strongly marked 

 by common characters, physical and organic (as, for example, the 

 nummuhtic beds in different coimtries), as to assure the mind of their 

 contemporaneity ; but all the other beds between them may vary so 

 greatly in any two countries, as to admit only of an absolute arrange- 

 ment in each individual section, and a general deduction from the 

 proportionate relations between the two. The field, therefore, for the 

 labour of geologists is still unbounded ; and, if we pass from the limits 

 of Em'ope, in which, moderate as they are, the difficulty of correla- 

 tion is very great, to more distant regions, such as those of India or 

 America, no just estimate can be formed of its magnitude. Look, 

 for example, at the aspect of the tertiaries of India, — of that portion, 

 for instance, described by Mr. Oldham, and it is evident how much 

 has yet to be done to satisfy the mmd of their contemporaneity 

 with certain named deposits of Europe ; and, if we refer to the very 

 interesting work on the Pleiocene Fossils of South Carohna, by MM. 

 Tuomey and Holmes, how remarkable do we find the organic in- 

 dividuality which the tertiary deposits of that country exhibit, as 

 compared with those of Europe ! Seven numbers have now been 

 published of this work, and it may be fairly said that, in the care 

 bestowed upon the descriptions and illustrations, it is deserving of 

 great praise, and does honour to the pubhshers of America. The 

 expense of bringing out such a work must necessarily be very great, 

 and Mr. Holmes appeals therefore for support to " the pride not only 

 of his own city and State, but of the whole country, and especially 

 to the friends of natural science at large." The American govern- 

 ment has never been niggardly in its efforts to promote science, as 

 has been amply proved by the several geological surveys and other 

 scientific works it has so liberally promoted and fostered, and it is 

 hoped therefore that this important work may also receive its support 

 and be adopted as a national work. 



"We have had a short paper on the Valenciennes Coal Basin, by ^IM, 

 Degousee and Laurent, communicated in a letter to Mr. Tylor. This 

 coal-basin is in the prolongation of the Belgian Coal Basin of Mons, 

 and the present workings afford a striking example of the increased 

 knowledge and energy of the present age, as in the last century France 

 possessed in the north only the mines of Anzin, first worked in 1716; 

 and, though manv fruitless attempts were m?.de to discover new sources 

 of coal, the adventurers having been led into a wrong direction, namely 

 towards Arras, it is only recently that the basin has been satisfac- 

 torily explored in the direction of the Pas de Calais. At present 

 several companies have been formed, about 568OOO expended, and 

 150 sinkings made, the result being a large accession of wealth to the 

 two Departments in which the workings have been established. It is 

 remarkable that the Valenciennes coal-deposit immediately under- 

 hes the chalk, or at least the cretaceous formation, as a thin bed 

 of greensand is actually interposed between the chalk and the coal- 



