^4 PEOCEEDINGS OE THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



a meeting was held in this room, at which a service of plate and a 

 cheque for about <£250 were presented to Dr. Henry Woodward. 



The next is the visit of the Geologists' Association to Belgium. 

 There is no Society in which our own should feel a deeper interest 

 than in this, for it developes an interest in geology, besides sending 

 on many of its members to augment our ranks. Its annual summer 

 excursions have long been a special feature of the Association ; it 

 has once before crossed the '^ silver streak " to the vicinity of Bou- 

 logne ; but this year it was determined to take a bolder flight and 

 spend a few days among the Palaeozoic rocks of Belgium, along the 

 course of the Mouse. The careful preparation for this journey, as 

 evidenced by the publication of geological information, the excellent 

 organization of the expedition, and the cheerful cooperation of some 

 of our Belgian friends, rendered this excursion, in which more 

 than seventy members took part, a remarkable success, on which the 

 President, Mr. Topley, and the indefatigable Secretary, Dr. Foulerton, 

 are to be congratulated. May we hope that some of our own 

 interesting localities will prove attractive to foreign societies, and 

 that our visitors will meet with a welcome as cordial from the 

 geologists of Great Britain ? 



The last event on which I will touch is the interesting exhibition 

 of maps, models, and teaching- appliances in geography, recently 

 opened under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society. The 

 main object of its promoters was admittedly to awaken an interest 

 in and improve the teaching of geognosy, or Erdlcunde (sometimes 

 called physical geography), as a branch of education, especially in our 

 schools and universities. Perhaps, were we disposed to be critical, 

 we might say that some of its promoters, in their enthusiasm, appear 

 to have forgotten that almost all that is truly scientific in what is 

 called physical geography, is really, and has been from the first, an 

 integral part of geology, so that no geologist can concede that 

 geognosy is exclusively or even mainly the property of a Society 

 wbich admittedly deals with the descriptive rather than with the in- 

 ductive side of phenomena. This seeming but unintentional aggres- 

 sion, an oversight proceeding from zeal in itself laudable, we can 

 afford to let pass, with just a friendly word of protest, and in every 

 endeavour to secure sound and effective training in a subject so well 

 suited for educational purposes as is geognosy we should cooperate 

 heartily with our sister Society. If its Fellows can provoke British 

 Avorkmen to emulate those of other countries, and provide us with 

 better maps at a moderate cost, and with more systematic appliances 

 for teaching, if they can introduce a more general use of maps with 

 contour-lines and properly graduated shadings, if they can impress 

 upon teachers the value of models, and provide them at a reasonably 

 low price, we, as geologists, can hardly be too grateful. 



