ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESTDENT. 4 1 



the Old Chalk. On these facts, in conjunction with the absence 

 of evidence of a general upheaval of the continents which border 

 the Atlantic basin since chalk rose into dry land, Prof. Thomson 

 erected the bold hypothesis that the present deep-sea basin of the 

 Atlantic has been such during the entire Tertiary period, and that 

 the Glokigerince now living are the lineal descendants of those of 

 the Cretaceous epoch. 



The last loss which it is my sad duty to record is the death of 

 Edward Bernard Tawney, which occurred at Mentone on the 30th 

 December, in the 42nd year of his age. From boyhood he showed a 

 great inclination towards natural science. He passed with distinction 

 through the School of Mines. He travelled much ; he was a close 

 observer and a clear writer. Our Quarterly Journal is enriched by 

 several valuable contributions from his pen, which are all stamped by 

 an intense love of truth. In 1878 he was appointed Assistant to the 

 Woodwardian Professor of Geology ; and during the last months of 

 his life he was engaged upon a description of the fine series of rocks 

 collected by Sedgwick. Mr. Tawney's career was an admirable in- 

 stance of successful work achieved in spite of a frail and suffering 

 frame. 



Upon a review of the work done by the Society during the sessional 

 year which has just closed, it appears that the number of papers 

 read slightly exceeded the average and, if I may venture an opinion 

 on such a matter, they maintained the standard of former years. 



The relatively large number treating directly of, or referring inci- 

 dentally to, drift and gravels is suggestive that, in connexion with 

 these and their associated organic remains and implements, there 

 is still much deserving the attention of the investigator who aspires 

 to assist in clearing away the ambiguities which, in particular 

 instances, yet exist with respect to the sources, the modes of dis- 

 tribution, the age, and the general bearings of these deposits. The 

 once widely accepted canon that the lower are invariably newer 

 than the higher beds of such deposits has been lately shown not to 

 be universally applicable by a discovery in the Sablieres de Chelles- 

 sur-Marne, near Paris, where in the lowest of three terraces of 

 gravel only a little above the present level of the river, a much 

 older fauna has been found than that yielded by the highest terrace 

 in the same valley, and this under conditions which appear to forbid 

 a remaniement. 



Ice, to judge by the number of papers relating to it, and the hot 

 discussions these provoked, appears still to exercise an undiminished 

 fascination ; and we have lately heard repeated, and enforced by 

 fresh illustrations, arguments against the power of glaciers to ex- 

 cavate rock-basins, a faculty which not many years since few geo- 

 logists seriously questioned. 



On petrology seven papers only were read. One of these recorded 



