﻿ANNIVERSARY 
  ADDRESS 
  OF 
  THE 
  PRESIDENT. 
  47 
  

  

  The 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  Society's 
  Quarterly 
  Journal 
  for 
  the 
  year 
  1888 
  

   is 
  considerably 
  thicker 
  than 
  that 
  published 
  in 
  each 
  of 
  the 
  preceding 
  

   years 
  since 
  1882. 
  Increase 
  in 
  the 
  bulk 
  of 
  a 
  book, 
  as 
  all 
  scientific 
  

   workers 
  know, 
  and 
  none 
  better 
  than 
  geologists, 
  is 
  no 
  evidence 
  of 
  

   increase 
  in 
  the 
  value 
  of 
  its 
  contents 
  ; 
  many 
  works 
  of 
  portentous 
  

   dimensions 
  are 
  remarkable 
  for 
  nothing 
  but 
  their 
  size 
  ; 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  

   present 
  case 
  the 
  additional 
  space 
  has 
  been 
  occupied 
  by 
  several 
  papers 
  

   of 
  greater 
  length 
  than 
  usual, 
  and 
  these 
  papers 
  are, 
  I 
  think, 
  of 
  

   importance 
  not 
  disproportionate 
  to 
  their 
  length. 
  In 
  fact 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  

   longest, 
  the 
  Report 
  on 
  recent 
  work 
  in 
  the 
  Western 
  Highlands, 
  by 
  

   officers 
  of 
  the 
  Geological 
  Survey, 
  is 
  a 
  condensed 
  abstract 
  of 
  obser- 
  

   vations 
  by 
  several 
  geologists 
  extending 
  over 
  many 
  years, 
  which 
  

   might 
  easily 
  fill, 
  and 
  probably, 
  when 
  published 
  with 
  full 
  details, 
  will 
  

   fill 
  one 
  or 
  more 
  volumes. 
  No 
  papers 
  aid 
  more 
  in 
  maintaining 
  the 
  

   high 
  character 
  of 
  our 
  Journal 
  than 
  those 
  which 
  give 
  the 
  general 
  

   results 
  of 
  an 
  extensive 
  series 
  of 
  observations, 
  with 
  only 
  such 
  details 
  

   as 
  are 
  essential 
  in 
  order 
  to 
  enable 
  those 
  results 
  to 
  be 
  understood. 
  

  

  The 
  paper 
  that 
  I 
  have 
  just 
  mentioned, 
  on 
  the 
  recent 
  work 
  of 
  the 
  

   Geological 
  Survey 
  in 
  the 
  North-west 
  Highlands, 
  is, 
  probably, 
  the 
  

   most 
  important 
  paper 
  on 
  Geological 
  Dynamics 
  that 
  has 
  been 
  brought 
  

   before 
  the 
  Society 
  this 
  year, 
  perhaps 
  for 
  several 
  years, 
  even 
  when 
  

   the 
  value 
  of 
  the 
  new 
  stratigraphical 
  information 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  con- 
  

   tribution 
  to 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  metamorphism 
  is 
  disregarded. 
  It 
  is 
  

   perfectly 
  true 
  that 
  the 
  principal 
  conclusions 
  as 
  to 
  the 
  distortion 
  of 
  

   strata 
  were 
  not 
  new 
  ; 
  they 
  had 
  been 
  published 
  already 
  by 
  other 
  - 
  

   observers, 
  and 
  resulted 
  from 
  the 
  application 
  of 
  observations 
  made 
  by 
  

   various 
  geologists 
  in 
  the 
  Alps 
  and 
  elsewhere 
  ; 
  but 
  as 
  the 
  geological 
  

   examination 
  of 
  the 
  Highlands 
  had 
  never 
  before 
  been 
  extended 
  over 
  so 
  

   large 
  an 
  area 
  in 
  any 
  detail, 
  the 
  views 
  adopted 
  had 
  not 
  been 
  tested 
  

   by 
  a 
  systematic 
  and 
  exhaustive 
  survey. 
  Until 
  this 
  had 
  been 
  done, 
  

   geologists 
  were 
  perfectly 
  justified 
  in 
  suspending 
  their 
  judgment; 
  but 
  

   since 
  the 
  careful 
  and 
  thorough 
  survey 
  of 
  Messrs. 
  Peach 
  and 
  Home 
  

   and 
  their 
  colleagues 
  has 
  confirmed 
  the 
  views 
  of 
  Professor 
  Lapworth 
  

   (and 
  in 
  great 
  part 
  those 
  of 
  Nicol 
  and 
  several 
  other 
  observers), 
  the 
  

   theory 
  of 
  enormous 
  lateral 
  movement 
  in 
  rocks, 
  involving 
  changes 
  in 
  

   position 
  of 
  many 
  miles, 
  and 
  the 
  actual 
  thrust 
  of 
  masses 
  forming 
  

   mountains 
  over 
  each 
  other, 
  has 
  received 
  a 
  sufficient 
  amount 
  of 
  confir- 
  

   mation 
  to 
  justify 
  our 
  believing 
  that 
  the 
  problem 
  of 
  the 
  actual 
  process 
  

   of 
  mountain-formation 
  is 
  solved, 
  and 
  that 
  it 
  now 
  only 
  remains 
  to 
  

   determine 
  the 
  cause. 
  

  

  This, 
  however, 
  is 
  only 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  principal 
  questions 
  on 
  which 
  

  

  