XXVm PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



regulations for the management of a new society were discussed and 

 arranged. 



For some time before the period to which I am now alluding, a 

 warm interest for the sciences of Mineralogy and Mining had sprung 

 up among some of the leading men of science in England, which had 

 led to the formation of several valuable mineralogical collections. 

 Availing himself of this growing feeling, Mr. Greenough exerted him- 

 self to give a practical direction to the efforts of scientific men by the 

 establishment of a new Society for the cultivation of mineralogical 

 and geological science in a more special manner than that in which 

 it was entertained at the Royal Society. 



But Mr. Greenough could hardly have anticipated the difficulties 

 of the task he had undertaken. During this and the two following 

 years the opposition of Sir Joseph Banks, the President of the Royal 

 Society, seconded by that of other influential members, threatened 

 the existence of the new Society. They opposed the formation of a 

 Society which they imagined would encroach on the province and 

 impair the dignity of their own, and no n^eans were omitted for the 

 purpose of endeavouring to crush it. Several of the Fellows who 

 had originally joined withdrew their names, Davy amongst the num- 

 ber. Mr. Greenough calmly but fearlessly resisted their efforts. 

 He endeavoured to conciliate matters by every means in his power. 

 He pointed out to Sir J. Banks the true objects of their intended 

 action ; with his own hands he drew up a list of the subjects which 

 it was intended to make the objects of inquiry, and promised that any 

 papers he desired should be freely placed at the disposal of the Royal 

 Society. But all in vain ; the hostile feeling could not be overcome. 

 Still Mr. Greenough was unshaken, and when the Royal Society 

 endeavoured to compromise matters by offering to make the Geo- 

 logical a branch of the Royal, and proposed that the papers read in 

 the Geological Society should be subject to their control and be pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the Royal, Mr. Greenough and his 

 friends who acted with him calmly but steadily stood their ground, 

 and finally succeeded in asserting the complete independence of the 

 Geological Society. 



Nor should it be forgotten that, although much warmth was eli- 

 cited in these discussions, Mr. Greenough never lost a friend. At 

 length, all obstacles having been overcome, the Geological Society 

 (first established in 1807) became regularly constituted in 1811, and 

 Mr. Greenough was elected the first President, an honour justly 

 merited by his strenuous exertions for its formation, and one which 

 he held for a period of six years*. In the same year the first volume 

 of our Transactions was published, and I may here mention that of 

 the first list of Council and Officers of the Society, Mr. Leonard 

 Horner is now the only survivor. I need not remind you that 

 during the long lapse of intervening years Mr. Horner has ever been 

 the steady friend of this Society. May he long be spared to us, and 

 long continue to be the connecting link between the present genera- 

 tion of geologists and the first founders of the Society. 

 * Dr. Bostock's Address ; March 1826. 



