﻿part 1] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxxv 



present day the abdominal region gradually tapers into the thick 

 root of the large tail in such lowly types as the Marsupial 

 Thylacinus and the Edentate Orycteropus. Arcliceopteryx 

 suggests that the persistence of the reptilian tail was also a 

 handicap to the earliest birds. 



It may be that the same conservative tendency is the origin of 

 various other apparently incompatible structures, for which adaptive 

 explanations have been sought in vain. For instance, it has been 

 surmised that the great bony brow-ridges of apes like the gorilla 

 are needed to resist the strain produced by the working of the 

 powerful jaws ; but the same explanation will not apply to the 

 nearly similar forehead of Neanderthal Man, in which the jaws are 

 no heavier than those of many modern men. This must be a case 

 either of direct inheritance or (as at present seems more probable) 

 of curious reversion in a higher group to a tendency characterizing 

 an ancestral lower group. Many similar instances might be 

 cited. 



The palaeontologist is, indeed, now continually tempted to 

 trespass on the domain of the speculative philosopher. He has 

 had to abandon the old vague methods of comparative anatomy by 

 which the solid foundations of his science were first laid. He now 

 sorts out characters into several categories before beginning to 

 compare them, and arrives at his interpretations in accordance 

 with certain general principles which I have tried to illustrate. 

 If, as Sir Jethro Teall has said, ' the state of advancement of a 

 science must be measured, not by the number of facts collected 

 but by the number of facts co-ordinated,' Palaeontology is well in 

 the forefront of progress. Its devotees may be wrong in some of 

 their broader speculations, but during recent years they have rarely 

 met with new facts which could not be reconciled with the general 

 scheme of things developing in their minds. The value of its 

 results for the purposes of geolog3 r must thus be constantly 

 increasing. 



Leaving high philosophy, it now only remains for me, in 

 conclusion, to thank the Fellows of the Geological Society for the 

 great honour which they conferred upon me two years ago when 

 they elected me to be their President. I also wish to express my 

 appreciation of the kind help and forbearance of the Officers, 

 Council, Fellows, and Permanent Staff, which bave made my term 



