^Ol. 57.] ANNIVERSAEY ADDEESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Ixili 



continually enlarges our view, introduces new ideas, new ways of 

 looking at things, and thus contributes in no small degree to the 

 intellectual development of the human race. 



It is now generally recognized that the state of advancement of a 

 science must be measured, not by the number of facts collected but 

 by the number of facts coordinated. The old Baconian idea that 

 it was only necessary to collect facts and pigeon-hole them according 

 to rule, in order to make the most brilliant discoveries, has been 

 somewhat discredited by the history of scientific progress. Speaking 

 on this subject, De Morgan says : — 



' Modern discoveries have not been made by large collections of facts, with 

 subsequent discussion, separation, and resulting deduction of a truth thus 

 rendered perceptible. A few facts hare suggested an hypothesis which means a 

 supposition proper to explain them, the necessary results of this supposition 

 are worked out, and then, and not till then, other facts are examined, to see if 



these ulterior results are found in Nature What are large collections of 



facts for ? To make theories from, says Bacon ; to try ready-made theories 

 by, says the history of discovery ; it's all the same, says the idolater ; nonsense, 

 say we.' 



Hutton appears to have been of De Morgan's way of thinking. 

 He pondered over the facts that he had observed in England, France^ 

 and Scotland, and formulated his theor}- of the earth. He then 

 went again into the field to test the consequences of his theory, and 

 verified them. He never seems to have thought it worth while to 

 describe isolated facts, or the structure of particular districts, 

 except in so far as they illustrated his theory : although no one 

 was better qualified to do this, as all readers of his description of 

 the unconformity at Siccar Point, of the granite-veins in Glen Tilty 

 or of the geological features of Arran, will readily admit. His joy 

 at the discovery of the granite-veins in Glen Tilt can be easily 

 understood. His theory required that they should exist, and they 

 were found, not by chance, but because they were looked for. And 

 we may be sure that the joy did not arise from gratified vanity, for, 

 as Playfair says, he was one of those who took more delight in the 

 contemplation of truth than in the praise of having discovered it. 



In thus calling attention to the importance of ideas in scientific 

 research, I trust it will not be thought that I ani advocating a 

 return to the condition of things which prevailed in the early days 

 of geological history. Armchair philosophizing, apart from actual 

 work in the field, the laboratory, and the museum, is by no means 

 to be commended. But the worship of fact, as fact, may easily be 

 overdone. The number of discoverable facts is practically infinite. 



