ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXV 



the highest portion of the series, are overlaid by several other distinct 

 formations, consisting of the St. Helen's 6r Osborne beds and the 

 Bembridge series, the latter consisting of several distinct divisions, all 

 characterized by peculiar fossils, chiefly, however, freshwater or brack- 

 ish. He has, moreover, distinctly ascertained that the Hempstead 

 Hill series constitutes another subdivision overlying the uppermost 

 bed of the Bembridge Series, and characterized by a fresh set of fossils. 

 *' Thus," to use the author's words, *' we find that the fluvio-marine 

 Eocenes of the Isle of Wight are more than twice as thick as they 

 have hitherto been regarded, and that the additional beds are even 

 of greater geological importance than those hitherto recognized." 



The remarkable feature in this section is, that from the Barton 

 series upwards there is no break in the series of deposits ; and as 

 Prof. Forbes identifies the Hempstead series with the middle, and 

 possibly the upper Limburg beds of Belgium, he is logically led to 

 the conclusion, that the Limburg beds, and consequently the Wein-. 

 heim beds of the Mayence basin, w4iich are unquestionably of the 

 same age as the Middle Limburg, must be also Eocene. Other con- 

 tinental beds are also referred to as necessarily belonging to this 

 Eocene period. This is not the place to offer any criticism on 

 Edward Forbes' s conclusions, but I may perhaps hereafter allude to 

 the question, for the purpose of testing whether there may not exist 

 some flaw in the argument, by which so many of the younger conti- 

 nental beds are drawn into this Eocene vortex. 



During this period Prof. Forbes was not only most industrious with 

 his pen, but he was unwearied in his arrangement and classification 

 of the vast accumulation of fossils collected by the Ordnance Geolo- 

 gical Survey, and now exhibited in the Jermyn Street Museum. He 

 was no less active in the field with his hammer and his note-book. 

 He not only explored various parts of England, Wales, and Ireland, 

 but he visited, with the same observant eye and comprehensive 

 glance, many portions of Belgium and of France, carefully comparing 

 their various aspects and phsenomena, and procuring materials for 

 his philosophical generalizations. 



It is unnecessary for me to remind you of the satisfaction with 

 which we hailed his appointment to the Presidentship of this Society, 

 looking forward to the influence of his profound knowledge of palae- 

 ontology on the future progress of our science. But scarcely had he 

 occupied this chair for half the allotted term, when the death of his 

 old master. Prof. Jameson, was announced in this metropolis. The 

 universal voice of science was not slow in recognizing Edward Forbes 

 as the man who, above all others, both as a naturalist and a geologist, 

 was most fitted to succeed him. At the same time, I am bound to 

 say, that while we were all ready to congratulate him on the prospect 

 of thus reaching the highest goal which a true naturalist could desire, 

 we looked forward with regret to the prospect of his removal from 

 our circle. Nor was this grief altogether free from a feeling of 

 shame, that this vast city, with its wealth, its display, its riches, its 

 public and private associations, its great collections, its lavish expen- 

 diture, and in many respects its unbounded liberality, could propose 



