ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. ly 



the Elephant ; above lay an irregular series of gravel, sand, and 

 loam, in many incomplete layers (elsewhere containing land shells 

 drifted), and some darker parts irregrdarly traceable upwards. These 

 being accurately examined, were found to be old pits, partly full of 

 dark earth, old British pottery, and human bones. They were places 

 of sepulture, a few feet deep ; but it required careful eyes to discern 

 the original limits, which time had rendered obscure : 



..." tantum longinqua valet mutare vetustas." 



This ground had been traversed by Charles I., retiring by night from 

 Oxford and the Parliamentarians, and little heeding the memorials 

 of earlier fights beneath his feet. What a succession of periods is 

 here offered to the mind in one opening 16 feet in depth ! "What 

 errors might not be perpetuated in our books by a mere indiscrimi- 

 nate gathering of the spoils of one pit — spoils of historic, prc-his- 

 torie, and pre-Adamitic time, always truly distinguished by Nature, 

 though confused by heedless collectors. 



Nor is it only in the collection of specimens that we are liable 

 to errors of neglect. When the collections come to our hands, 

 how often must we deplore the deficiency of authentic information, 

 the want of localities, the want of sufficient examples for study ! 

 When cabinets change hands, how many things become mixed which 

 should have been kept asunder ! how many things lose their his- 

 tory, because the mind which alone preserved it has passed away! 

 If, through the lapse of time, our own collections have begun to 

 wear in places this doubtful aspect, let us rejoice that there still 

 remain amongst us a few of our earliest friends who remember the 

 objects for which these collections were formed, and retain a strong 

 desire to provide for their fulfilment. Already the necessary labour 

 of revision and re-arrangement is begun ; progress is already made ; 

 our thanks are already due. By the election this day of Mr. Leonard 

 Horner as your President, you have taken the course at once most 

 useful to tlie Society and most agreeable to its feelings. You thus 

 ' sprees to him the respect and affection which a long life of devotion 

 to science and to this Society naturally engenders, and you encourage 

 him to persevere in a labour which few could undertake with bo 

 good a hope of successful results. 1 trust that, when his term of 

 i. Hire expires, he will experience the gratification which I now feel 

 in acknowledging the kindness and forbearance which have sustained 

 me in the discharge of my duty, supplied all my shortcomings, and 

 enabled me happily and thankfully to resume my place among the 

 friendly members of a eealous, united, and prosperous Society. 



