ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, Lxiti 



incident, that the only survivor of those members who assisted at the 

 foundation of the Academy, M. D'Omalius d'Halloy, came to Belgium 

 to bid adieu to Dumont, whose early progress he had encouraged, 

 whom he loved as a son, and by whom he was revered as a parent. 

 For twenty years his life was devoted to the preparation of the geo- 

 logical map, during which time he shrank from no labour either of 

 body or mind, exploring every spot in Belgium, and not allowing a 

 single geological fact of importance to escape his attention, so that 

 his inquiries extended from the primary to the tertiary formations 

 inclusive. The merit of the map cannot be disputed, even though 

 doubts may be entertained as to the nomenclature made use .of ; and 

 we may adopt the following words of one of his eulogists without re- 

 serve : " Though he was, perhaps from a natural disdain for ordinary 

 means of success, too careless about popularizing his ideas beyond the 

 class he taught, his maps will retain their value, even though it may 

 be necessary to change his nomenclature ; and they are so manifestly 

 stamped with the character of exactness and reality, that it may be 

 expected that the divisions which he has adopted will be hereafter 

 taken as general types of formations : indeed they have already been 

 adopted in Germany for many formations, so that they have already 

 obtained a place in geological science." The failure of his health 

 forced M. Dumont to travel ; and he discovered on the shores of the 

 Bosphorus, and on the mountains of Spain, formations equivalent to 

 those he had recognized on the plains of the Ardennes and of Con- 

 droz ; and it was then that he conceived the idea of forming a geo- 

 logical map of Europe, a map which has appeared, and must be looked 

 upon as one of the first serious attempts to establish on a large scale 

 the geological correlation of the various countries of Europe. 

 . Like our late friend Mr. D. Sharpe, to whom he was well known, he 

 was snatched away in the very prime of life, and at a moment when 

 still greater advances in geological science might have been reason- 

 ably expected from him. The University and the Government of his 

 country had however done much in that brief time to testify their 

 estimation of him. Many of his academical honours have been al- 

 ready noticed ; but it may be mentioned that he was a Commander 

 of the Order of Leopold, a Knight of the Order of Conception of Yilla- 

 Yicosa of Portugal, and of the Polar Star of Sweden, whilst he was 

 a member and one of the founders of the Eoyal Society of Sciences 

 of Liege, Member of the Society of Sciences, Arts and Belles Lettres 

 of Hainault, Honorary Member of the Central Society of Agriculture 

 of Belgium, of the Association of Engineers, formed on the model of 

 the School of Mines, and of the Society of Emulation, Member of the 

 Academies of Naples and Turin, formerly President of the Geological 

 Society of France, Member of the Imperial Society of St. Petersburg, 

 of the Society of Naturalists of Moscow, Corresponding Member of the 

 Society of Physical, Chemical, and Agricultural Sciences of France, and 

 since 1841 a Foreign Member of our Society, the loss of whom will be 

 deeply regretted by many of our members, and by none more than 

 Mr. Austen and Mr. Prestwich, both of whom were intimately ac- 

 quainted with him personally and knew well his worth. 

 The preceding observations are sufficient to prove how. fully M» 



