292 [Proc. B.N.F.C. 



occasion the side hall was crowded, and the views were frequently 

 applauded. At ten o'clock a short business meeting was held, 

 and seventeen new members elected, thus bringing to a close an 

 enjoyable and instructive evening. 



19 November. 



On Tuesday, 19 November, the opeiiing meeting of the 

 Club was held in the Museum, when the President (F. W. 

 Lockwood, C.E.) delivered his inaugural address. The President 

 took as his subject " The Interdependence of the Various 

 Branches of the Club's Work," and on rising was well received 

 by those present. The address first touched upon the increasing 

 prosperity of the Club, as indicated by the activity of the various 

 sections, and though some of the older members had doubts as 

 to the wisdom of the recent changes, he himself felt none. The 

 President then referred to the different nature of the work done 

 now to what was open to the students of thirty years ago, which 

 necessitated sometimes a change in method. He then went on 

 to show the dependence the vaiious branches had upon each 

 other. To take an instance, that pursuit which has brought 

 the Club a very considerable reputation, microscopy, and more 

 especially that branch so successfully pursued by Joseph Wright, 

 F.G.S., the foraminifera, he (the President) thought it certain 

 that J. Wright little considered his investigations into the white 

 chalk powder in the flints would ultimately lead to discoveries 

 necessitating careful reconsideration of the theories as to the 

 origin of boulder clay. The resemblance between the valleys 

 of Wales and Scotland and those of the Alps, and the shell- 

 bearing beds such as Moel Tryfaen and other indications led 

 investigators to go further afield, with ultimate results that we 

 had to imagine a past in which the British isles figured as an 

 archipelago, with all the mountain tops covered with perpetual 

 snow and ice, the sea full of drifting bergs, and an " ice -foot " 

 on the mainland similar to that of the Arctic regions. Following 

 npon this came the Scottish school, headed by Archibald and 



