ANNIVERSAKT ADDRESS. XXXlll 



years of his life, no sooner did he attain tlic honour of our Chair, tlian 

 he estabHshed the publication of those * Proceedings ' wliich are the 

 true synopsis of our hibours, and have been imitated by the lloyal 

 Society and most of the scientitic societies in the metropolis, lie was 

 also the first of our Presidents who adopted the practice of deliver- 

 ing an Anniversary Address, which under his management was a 

 well-composed and accurate sketch of the progress we had made. 

 Let me here add, that his two addresses contained much good matter 

 in a very small compass ; for the first of them occupied eleven pages, 

 and the second twenty-two pages only of our * Proceedings.' 



In the first of these, Dr. Pitton energetically adverted to the then 

 imperfect condition of our knowledge concerning the distribution of 

 plants upon the former surfaces of the globe during epochs of geolo- 

 gical deposition, as well as to the variations which such distribution 

 may have undergone from changes of climate, either by alteration 

 of internal temperature or elevation above the sea. Then let us 

 turn to his just eulogy of the labom-s of von Buch, Humboldt, and 

 McCulloch, in supporting the theory of Hutton, as illustrated by 

 Playfair and Hall, and verified in Anglesea by the striking observa- 

 tions of Henslow, as well as by Davy's experiments on the flints in 

 the ca\'ities of crystals. 



Then, again, let us look at his well-merited encomium on the 

 wondrous efi'ect in the progress of English Geology as produced by the 

 publication of the ' Outhnes of England and Wales,' by Conybcarc and 

 Phillips, which volume w^as well said by him to have had an effect 

 to which nothing since the institution of the Geological Society and 

 the diffusion of geological maps could then be compared. With just 

 pride did he affirm that that work " acquired a new and a more 

 dignified interest when we reflected that this island is in a great 

 measure a general epitome of the globe, and that the observer who 

 made himself familiar with its strata and the fossil remains which 

 they include, had not only prepared himself for similar inquiries in 

 other quarters, but was already acquainted by anticipation with what 

 he may expect to find there." It can wdth truth be said that this 

 advice and the exhortation which followed, calling upon all those 

 who had leisure, health, and talent for such inquiries to carry them 

 out, were truly the incitements which roused the then Secretary 

 of the Geological Society, who pens this sketch, to undertake ex- 

 plorations abroad by which he has endeavoured to bring the struc- 

 ture of other countries into direct comparison with those of our 

 own land. 



It is indeed most gratifying to one of the olden time to reperuso 

 in the address of Dr. Fitton of 1829 the brief, touching, and just 

 eulogy which he pronounced on the character of our then recently 

 deceased Member, the iUustrious Wollaston. The words came from 

 his heart, and specially marked the penetration, correct judgment, 

 and high moral character of the deceased philosopher. 



Dr. Fitton further signalized his presidency by drawing to the 

 Society and engaging in its service, as Assistant Secretary, that re- 

 markj^ble man William Lonsdale, whose acquaintance it was my good 



TOL, xviir. c 



