Yol. 68.~j ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PEESIDENT. Ixxui 



now doing their best to carry out the further resolution in which 

 this policy was decided upon and ' extend the Library ' to the utmost. 



It is to be hoped that both the generosity of the donors to whom 

 I have referred, and their wisdom in leaving their gifts unfettered by 

 conditions, will be followed by other pious benefactors. These may 

 rest assured that they will thus earn a greater meed of gratitude 

 and remembrance from future geologists, than if any restrictive 

 conditions are attached to their gifts. The Funds and Medals 

 which the Society has already at its disposal amply meet all its 

 requirements for this special class of award, and it is to be hoped 

 that no further burden of selection will be laid on the Council. 



There is, however, one special fund at the disposal of the Society 

 which has produced results far exceeding the expectations of those 

 who framed the rules under which it is annually awarded. I 

 refer to the Daniel-Pidgeon Pand, which has now been granted 

 nine times, and each time has stimulated and supported research of 

 a high order. The example thus set might well be followed, and 

 I feel sure the Council would willingly add to its labours that 

 of awarding any fund which would aid the research of the younger 

 men, at a time of life when the appetite for investigation is so 

 keen that means for satisfying it are not always at hand. Year 

 by year, in making this award, the Council feels the difficulty of 

 selecting one only out of the list of promising candidates ; and, 

 though the selected candidate has always more than justified the 

 confidence of the Council, the event has proved that many of those 

 •who have almost succeeded in heading the list have accomplished 

 important research along the lines promised in their application for 

 the fund. 



The Coal Supply of Britain. 



Foe the last two centuries the welfare of Britain has been bound 

 up with the extraction and exploitation of its mineral wealth, and 

 the rapid growth of the science of Geology in the country, the 

 increase in number of its students and publications, have been to a 

 large extent the outcome of the same economic development. 

 While all of our mineral products are or have been of importance 

 in the development of industries within the country, those which 

 have been and are of paramount consequence, and have led to the 

 extraordinary industrial advance that placed Britain at the head of 



VOL. LXVIII. f 



