ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xliii 



with which they come in contact, and for his suggestive theories 

 respecting the causes of the motion of glaciers. On this latter ques- 

 tion, rejecting, as an insufficient explanation, the gravitation theory 

 of De Saussure, he brought forward in conjunction with Prof. Agassiz 

 that theory which has been called by Prof. James Forbes the dilata- 

 tion theory, and which has been frequently discussed in these rooms. 

 And although the researches of Prof. Forbes, who gives the preference 

 to the so-called gravitation theory, have shown that some of M. de 

 Charpentier's data are untenable, and that his theory will not account 

 for all the phsenomena connected with glacier motion, yet when 

 we consider the internal structure of the glacier-ice and the granular 

 form it assumes, there seems some reason to believe that an expand- 

 ing force is produced by the tendency of the granules to enlargement, 

 however it may be occasioned, as evidenced by their increasing size 

 according to the age and duration of the ice. 



In addition to these claims to our notice, I must not omit to 

 mention that M. de Charpentier was long known as one of the first 

 conchologists of the Continent. In 1837 he published in the Memoirs 

 of the Helvetic Society a catalogue of the land and freshwater mollusca 

 of Switzerland. He possessed a valuable collection of shells which 

 has been given to the Museum of the Canton de Vaud. He was 

 elected a Foreign Member of this Society in 1824, and died on the 

 12th September, 1855. 



Gentlemen, — I propose in the following remarks to adhere to 

 the plan which I adopted when I had last the honour of addressing 

 you on a similar occasion, and I shall endeavour to lay before you a 

 general view of the progress of our science during the past year, at 

 the same time pointing out as well as I may be able, some of the 

 principal features by which that progress has been marked. I con- 

 ceive that such a plan will be more generally acceptable, and I am 

 sure that it is one in which I am less likely to fail, than if I 

 attempted to enter into a minute examination and criticism of some 

 individual feature of geological investigation. At the same time I 

 feel that the task before me is one of no ordinary character. It is 

 beset with difficulties of the most opposite kind. On the one hand, 

 if we look at the various publications of Geological Societies and In- 

 stitutions both at home and abroad, the mass of matter to be examined 

 and epitomized into an address might well appal a greater literary 

 gourmand than myself ; whilst on the other hand, however great have 

 been the labours of geologists during the past year, I am not aware 

 of any discovery of an unusual character, or of such an engrossing 

 nature as necessarily to attract and rivet your attention, and to 

 induce you to overlook the imperfections or the short-comings of this 

 Address. 



Our own proceedings and those of the Museum of Practical Geo- 

 logy and of the Geological Survey necessarily occupy our first atten- 

 tion ; and having mentioned that great National Institution, you will, 

 I trust, allow me to make one allusion in reference thereto. I have 

 already had occasion to mention, that but a short time had intervened 



