8o PROCEEDrSTGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



to-day. At a time when the mineralogical constitution of rocks 

 and of the changes which they undergo is becoming daiJy more 

 clearly revealed, when innumerable researches are throwing fresh 

 light on the great physical processes taking place everywhere in the 

 world around us, and when each department of biological science 

 is contributing new '• facts and arguments for Darwin," such scien- 

 tific pusillanimity on the part of geologists seems, to say the least of 

 it, singularly inopportune. 



Doubtless there are difficulties still unresolved ; but does not 

 every advance in our knowledge see the removal of some of them ? 

 True the task of interpreting the fragmentary record of the rocks is 

 one the end of which seems very far off ; but is not every step we 

 take clearly an approximation towards that end ? 



If any arguments were needed in favour of the continued and 

 close co-operation of geologists and biologists, it would be found in 

 the circumstance that the most important step in the progress of 

 scientific thought which has been accomplished in modern times has 

 been the direct result of a combination of geological and biological 

 researches. 



That remarkable biography, for which we are so greatly indebted 

 to Mr. Prancis Darwin, is not simply the record of a life, simple, 

 blameless, and noble beyond that of ordinary men, the story of the 

 workings of an intellect, truth-loving, patient, and powerful, above 

 that of all his contemporaries ; it is the history of a most wonderful 

 revolution in human thought — one which will perhaps be regarded 

 in future times as the most striking event of the nineteenth century. 



The grand secret of Darwin's success in grappling with the great 

 problem of " the Origin of Species " is found in the fact that he was 

 at the same time a geologist and a biologist. The concentration of 

 the later years of his life upon zoological and botanical researches 

 has led many to forget the position occupied by Darwin among 

 geologists. Not only are his geological writings of the highest value 

 for the wealth of accurate observations which they contain, and for 

 the important generalizations which they put forward, but in his 

 more purely biological works the value of his geological training and 

 experience is constantly exemplified. 



It was, indeed, a fortunate circumstance that Darwin, after being 

 repelled by the narrow and souUess system of " geognosy " taught 

 by Jameson at Edinburgh, came at Cambridge under the spell of 

 Henslow, a man of most catholic taste, extensive acquirements, and 



