ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. CxU 



the local directors, Professor Ramsay and Mr. Jukes, have done 

 every thmg in their power to advance the progress of the work. But 

 from the report of Sir R. Murchison there is one part of the esta- 

 blishment still kept much below the strength necessary for carrying 

 on the work efficiently, and that is the Palseontological staff. Mr. 

 Salter and his temporary assistants may be sufficient to keep pace 

 with the collectors in England, and to ensure that fossils shall 

 be examined, compared, and named soon after they have been 

 found ; but that he should be able to do the same for Ireland and 

 Scotland is manifestly impossible, and in consequence, we learn that 

 *' although the Irish collections have been increasing at the rate of 

 several thousand specimens per annum, no general examination of 

 them has been made for the last eight years ; nor, indeed any exami- 

 nation of them at all, except of a partial and necessarily imperfect 

 nature, even when conducted by the late lamented Professor E. 

 Forbes and ]\Ir. Salter ; the latter now alone executing the duties of 

 Palaeontologist of the United Kingdom." It is manifest that Sir R. 

 Murchison asks only for what is absolutely indispensable when he 

 urges the appointment of a Palaeontologist for Ireland, and we may 

 hope also one for Scotland. Of British fossils, 15,0^)5 species have 

 been classified, and of foreign, 545; 742 of these have been placed in 

 the cases of the Museum; but, notwithstanding all the devotion of Mr. 

 Salter and his temporary assistants, how is it possible, without fur- 

 ther aid, that the fossils, which are the very elements of all Geological 

 deduction, should be properly examined, and, still less, accurately 

 drawn and rapidly published, so as to keep pace with the publication 

 of the survey which depends upon them ? I need not at present 

 dwell upon the Museum of Jermyn Street further than to say that 

 the Geological Survey itself is only one portion of the duties 

 of the establishment connected with it. It forms, in fact, the 

 head-quarters of a great educational institution including amongst 

 its Professors some of the most eminent men of the country ; each 

 in his respective branch advancing the cause of sound practical edu- 

 cation. Mr. Hunt has continued to preside over the ]Mining Record 

 Office with great advantage to the statistical branch of Geology. 

 Mr. Huxley, the distinguished naturalist, has during the session 

 delivered a course of 50 lectures upon general natural history ; Mr. 

 "Warington W. Smyth has, in addition to his labours in the field, 

 whilst examining the mining districts, and to those of superintending 

 the publication of his report on the Iron Ores of the North and 

 North Midland Counties of England, and preparing the quarter 

 sheets relating to the coal-fields of North Staffordshire for publica- 

 tion, delivered a course of 60 lectures on mining, and of 40 on 

 mineralogy, besides an evening-course on mining for working-men. 

 Lectures have been given to working-men by Professor Huxley on 

 Natural History ; by Professor Ramsay, on Geology ; and by Pro- 

 fessor Willis, on Applied Mechanics ; the Chemical Laboratory has 

 been ably managed by Professor Hofmann, and the number of his 

 students has considerably increased ; the Metallurgical Laboratory 

 has in like manner been most ably managed by Dr. Percy, who, with 



