Vol. 65.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lxxxiii 



of geology as a whole, we may next turn to its contents. These 

 •are so numerous and manifold as to render some kind of classification 

 necessary, and when we begin to attempt this we perceive that 

 geology is indeed a whole group of sciences rather than a single one. 

 A fundamental subdivision might first be made into morphology 

 and physiology ; this would perhaps commend itself as the most 

 philosophical, but in practice it would certainly prove the most 

 inconvenient. Our best course is to accept such subdivisions as 

 have already been brought into existence in the course of a natural 

 evolution. Thus we have first geodesy, which studies the mor- 

 phology of the earth as a whole : one of the latest contributions to 

 this subject is Prof. Love's harmonic analysis of its general form. 

 .No science is occupied exclusively with the study of the activities 

 or movements of the earth as a whole, and as a matter of convenience 

 geology borrows her knowledge of this subject from astronomy. 

 Passing next to the earth in its parts we have meteorology, which 

 ■studies the morphology and physiology of the atmosphere ; hydro- 

 graphy, which similarly studies the hydrosphere. The superficial 

 features of the lithosphere belong to geography ; its gross anatomy, 

 to what, for want of a better word, we must term geognosy ; its 

 minute anatomy, and — may we say histology? — , to petrography and 

 mineralogy. There is, however, a physiological as well as a mor- 

 phological, side to each of these sciences ; and the study of some 

 special kinds of activity has acquired such importance as to require 

 separate recognition, as, for instance, in the case of vulcanology and 

 seismology. 



Morphology and physiology are not the only two aspects 

 under which the material for our study presents itself, there is a 

 third, related to time ; for the existing state of the earth is only the 

 last of a long succession of states through which it has passed in 

 the course of development. Development, in relation to the organic 

 world, was regarded by Huxley as a subdivision of morphology ; 

 but, on reflection, it will be found to be equally concerned with 

 physiology, for each successive state is as much characterized by 

 its activities as by its form, although the form is usually more 

 accessible to study. The sciences so far recognized which relate to 

 development are palaeogeography and cosmology. 



So far we have made no mention of palaeontology, yet geology 

 has taken this subject under her aegis, and it is unquestionably one 

 of her offspring. It has been asserted, notwithstanding, that palae- 

 ontology has no place in our science, but belongs wholly to biology, 



