ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. XXXV11 



As a man of very high, intellectual acquirements, and as one who 

 filled the office of Secretary of our Society in 1837, Dr. Royle de- 

 serves to be long remembered with respect and affection by us all. 

 It has always been the pride of our Society to know that its officers 

 were distinguished for their high position amongst men of science ; 

 and it is not necessary now to enforce the great truth that mental 

 superiority in any one branch of natural science cannot fail to exer- 

 cise a beneficial influence on the cultivators of every other great 

 collateral branch. But though Dr. Royle has fully merited our 

 warmest encomiums for his botanical researches alone, he deserves 

 them also for the aid he has given towards the advancement of a 

 knowledge of the geology of India, although he does not appear to 

 have professed himself exclusively a geologist. As a proof of this 

 I may cite a memoir on the geological features of the Himalaya 

 Mountains, which forms part of his great work " Illustrations," to be 

 hereafter mentioned. This memoir was accompanied by some ex- 

 tensive sections, — namely, one across the Himalaya Mountains; 

 one from Saharunpore to the Source of the Jumna ; one through the 

 Great Coal-field of Bengal ; and the last through the Central Range 

 of India ; so that this essay was a most valuable attempt to reduce 

 to order, under the correcting influence of his own personal obser- 

 vation, the many scattered observations which had been previously 

 made, on the structure of the Himalaya Mountains and Bengal 

 Coal-field, but which, like the Report of Captain Herbert, having 

 been buried in the official archives of Bengal, had been almost for- 

 gotten. 



As might have been expected, Dr. Royle did not neglect Fossil 

 Botany, and he figured in the "Illustrations" the two new genera 

 from the Coal-field of Bengal, Veriebraria and Trizygia, the former 

 of which is still very obscure in respect to its affinities. Connected also 

 with his brief memoir of the Sewalik Hills, he figured some of the most 

 interesting of their mammalian remains ; and being Secretary of our 

 Society whilst the well-known investigations into the curious fauna of 

 that district were in progress, which have since redounded so much to 

 the honour of Dr. Falconer and Sir Proby Cautley, he was most enthu- 

 siastic in his efforts to encourage his friends in their labour by rapidly 

 bringing the results under the notice of men of science throughout 

 Europe, thus performing an office which Dr. Falconer has himself 

 so lately imitated in respect to Mr. Beckles and the Purbeck Fossils. 

 Dr. Royle also published figures of some of the fossil mammalia 

 from the elevated plateau of Thibet, behind the Snowy Mountains, — 

 a matter so important in respect to the determination of the geo- 

 logical age of the Himalaya Chain, that it deserves the attention of 

 every one who shall hereafter endeavour to perfect the geological 

 examination of this magnificent and interesting region. 



I am sure the Society will appreciate my feelings when I say 

 that I have freely availed myself of the materials afforded me by 

 Dr. Falconer (who succeeded Dr. Royle in the charge of the Botanic 

 Garden, and was his most attached friend), not only in placing before 

 you his geological claims, but also the following general sketch of 



vol. xrv. d 



