IxXXviii PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



my office, first, by dwelling on matters with which I had a surer ac- 

 quaintance, and, next, by endeavouring to provide you with a suc- 

 cessor to this chair who would do full justice to what I had preter- 

 mitted. You have elected that successor, a master in his vocation ; 

 and we shall now, during his term of presidency, have full justice 

 done to the biological portion of our science. 



For myself, I have to express to the Society my gratitude for the 

 honour which they have done me in placing me in the enviable 

 position of presiding over their interests for the past two years, and 

 to the Officers and Members of Council my best thanks for the un- 

 varying readiness and courtesy with which they have assisted in all 

 our dehberations ; and I may be permitted to record my confident 

 expectation that, whilst we are all agreed in the great objects of our 

 studies, differences of view and of mode of inquiry may occur on moot 

 points and yet the same good feeling and friendly bearing which have 

 always hitherto distinguished our body will long continue to adorn 

 its future progress. 



The efforts of geologists must, indeed, be more or less as the inci- 

 dents in a voyage of discovery. We know that the region of perfect 

 truth, for which we yearn and seek, lies looming ahead of us ; but 

 as yet we have enjoyed only dim glimpses of its form, although 

 some few successful navigators have here and there been fortunate 

 enough, after years of persevering toil, to fix with accuracy the posi- 

 tion of an islet or a promontory. But the region we make for is 

 one of vast extent ; and we sail on various courses and in very dif- 

 ferent varieties of craft. Some of us push rapidly forward in fast 

 clippers ; others cleave their way slowly, and yet not always surely. 

 And the past history of our voyage proves the importance of an 

 occasional crucial observation, by which to determine whether we 

 have not, in despite of strenuous efforts, been making leeway, or 

 even been carried completely off our course by currents of which we 

 had no cognizance. 



Possibly it may never be vouchsafed to mankind to survey in its 

 full length and breadth that glorious land of which we are in quest ; 

 but of this we may feel assured, that amid the thousand difficulties 

 and the thousand experiences of the laborious undertaking, much 

 must accrue that will strengthen and elevate the explorers, much 

 that will tend to promote the material advantage and the moral 

 dignity of our species. 



