lxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May iCJIIr 



of the geology of this country. The material has been given to 

 the Society in the trust that the Society would make such use of 

 it as would be of greatest benefit to the Science. Much of it is 

 of high intrinsic value ; but its scientific value to experts is far 

 higher, for there are in it not less than 2000 types and figured 

 specimens. It is, therefore, the documentary evidence of the 

 advance of Geology in this country, and it is exceptionally precious 

 on that account. It is clear that, as we have resolved, it ought 

 only to go to one or more of the National Institutions. 



Moreover, it must go with the proviso that it shall be readily 

 accessible to those who are most capable of making good use of it — 

 specialists in Geology, Palaeontology, and Mineralogy. Its contents- 

 should not be scattered, but should be kept within the area of a 

 single city. And it is extremely important that that city should be 

 so situated as to be the most convenient possible to the numerous 

 workers who will make use of the collection. 



Considerations like these will doubtless be taken into account by 

 the Council, in drawing up a scheme to be presented to the Society 

 for its decision. 



Geology as Geographical Evolution. 



The broadest and most popular conception of 'Geology' is the 

 4 History of the Earth.' And to a large extent this conception is 

 justifiable, for it is to the elucidation of Earth History that all 

 branches of the science are contributory, and from a knowledge 

 and interpretation of the details of this history that the applications 

 of Geology proceed. 



The successive time^periods of much of that history have long 

 since been broadly defined and their relative chronological order 

 established by the study of the characters, sequence, and dis- 

 tribution, of the geological formations, and their groupiug into- 

 those grander assemblages the Geological Systems. 



In the Geological Record thus arrived at and universally accepted,. 

 one of the most striking and fundamental facts is the preservation 

 in rocks of the relics of once-living animals and plants, and it 

 was only natural that, immediately these objects were admitted 

 to be of organic origin, they should be eagerly collected, classified, 

 compared with modern forms and with one another, and arranged 

 geologically in the order in which the rocks containing them were 

 deposited. 



