Tol. 52.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxXXlii 



By the law of periodicity, which, happily, has a constant biennial 

 limit, in this Society, I am about to vacate the Presidential Chair, 

 in which you did me the honour to place me in 1894 : but before 

 doing so, and whilst I may yet claim the privilege of a few 

 remaining sand-grains in Time's hour-glass, let me briefly draw 

 attention to a few topics of general interest connected with our 

 science, and in conclusion submit my second chapter on Crustacean 

 life-history in later geological times for your acceptance. 



As regards Home affairs we have just cause for satisfaction with 

 our present financial position as a Society. Our income has not 

 diminished, and we have a very respectable balance in hand, more 

 than sufficient for our ordinary expenditure, and probably nearly 

 sufficient to meet such extraordinary expenses as the installation 

 of the electric light and the partial re-decoration of the Society's 

 House. 



It is satisfactory to find that the slight increase in our composition- 

 fee for admission to the Society (decided upon in June 1894) has 

 not acted as a deterrent to intending compounders, but that we 

 have actually had more compounders during this last year than 

 previously. 



The completion of the 50 years' index has been somewhat retarded 

 by the death of our valued and esteemed Assistant-Clerk, Mr. 

 Francis E. Brown, which placed, for the time being, a heavy load of 

 additional business responsibility on our Assistant-Secretary, who 

 was happily equal to the emergency, and the Society suffered no 

 serious inconvenience from the temporary vacancy in the staff. 



The first number of ' Geological Literature added to the Geological 

 Society's Library,' during the half-year ended December 1894 (8vo, 

 pp. 58), was issued on the 1st May, 1895. On February 1st, 1896, 

 a similar work was issued, covering the year 1895. It extends to 

 158 pp. (8vo), and will certainly prove extremely valuable to all 

 workers in our science, particularly to Fellows in the country, 

 desirous of knowing what our library contains of the latest geological 

 interest. 



The fifty-first volume of the Society's Journal, for 1895, compares 

 favourably in every way with its predecessor. 



Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., announces the discovery of human 

 remains from Palaeolithic gravels at Galley Hill, Kent — which, if 

 (in point of contemporaneous age) still involved in doubt, are yet 

 of extreme interest to the student of Quaternary geology. Dr. G. J. 

 Hinde and Mr. Howard Fox give a most interesting account of 



