ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 153 



They have begun a series of figures of fossil shells, drawn and en- 

 graved with the utmost care ; and every plate will be sold separately, 

 at a very moderate price. 



For the last eighteen years it has been the custom for your Pre- 

 sident at each anniversary meeting to read an Address, the main 

 feature of which has been a sketch of the progress of Geology during 

 the preceding year. This plan was conceived and first carried into 

 execution by our valued associate Dr. Fitton, who for many years 

 has been, and, I am happy to say, still continues to be, one of the 

 main supports of this Society. It was a plan calculated to be useful 

 in many ways ; and the future historian of the progress of Geology 

 will find in the admirable addresses which have been printed, by 

 the eminent individuals who during the above-mentioned period have 

 occupied this chair, materials of the highest value. When I passed 

 my eye over the list of my predecessors, I saw at once the difficulty 

 of the task before me ; and were it allowable to shrink from the per- 

 formance of any of the duties which devolve upon your President, 

 I would gladly have broken through the established custom, from 

 the hopelessness of being able to execute the task to the satisfaction 

 of my own mind ; but I felt strongly that the custom ought to be 

 maintained, even although the purpose should be imperfectly ful- 

 filled. 



The greater number of those who have hitherto delivered these 

 anniversary addresses have belonged to the fortunate few who have 

 been able to devote a great part of the best period of their lives 

 almost exclusively to Geology. Such has not been my lot ; I have 

 had other duties to perform, which have left me but little leisure for 

 the active pursuit of science ; and all I can now attempt is to bring 

 before you some of those topics that appear to me to possess most 

 general interest, or to be steps in the progress of Geology, which 

 have come under my notice in the limited sphere of reading and ob- 

 servation to which my opportunities have extended. When we con- 

 sider the vast extent of the domain of Geology as it is now studied, 

 that its fundamental principles are derived from many, indeed from 

 almost all departments of natural history and physical science, it is 

 not possible for any one, although he united the most comprehen- 

 sive mind and varied attainments with indefatigable industry, to take 

 even a rapid survey of the progress of Geology in a singh; year, 

 using the term in its most enlarged sense. Even if we confine 

 ourselves to the more important observations that have been made 

 on the mineral structure of the earth, we shall find that to read 

 merely the published accounts of the labours of the cultivators of 

 this branch of science, now actively at work in all parts of the world, 

 is beyond the power of almost any man, even if he had no other 

 occupation. But even if such an herculean task were accomplished, 

 the difficulty would still remain of compressing the general results 

 into that space to which an address of tliis nature must necessarily 

 be confined. 



