VoL 67.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT 1XXV 



4 Festoon Islands ' of the Western Pacific, with their active 

 volcanoes, their steep slopes and profound depths, their sheltered 

 and land-locked seas. The different types of Ordovician strata 

 and volcanic rocks may be matched in the deposits which are now 

 forming there. The continuance of upward movement in the 

 Festoon Island region of the present would produce in the first 

 instance 'mediterranean' seas of Silurian type, and, ultimately, 

 land-locked lakes similar to those in which the Old Red Sandstone 

 originated. Some of the boundaries of the lakes, like those of the 

 Old Red Sandstone lakes, would have the structures of newly- 

 developed orogenic units ; while others would consist of older 

 land-masses which have been modified to a smaller extent by the 

 new movement. 



I do not put forward these instances as perfect analogies, but I 

 do believe that the imagination is stimulated by such comparisons, 

 and that if one tries to visualise existing circumstances more 

 thoroughly, one is more likely to look out for points of resemblance 

 and difference between the present and the past, and to observe 

 with greater acumen, or to criticise more unsparingly, the facts 

 which such important and interesting rock -systems as these 

 present for our observation. It will, of course, only be after the 

 study and rejection of a number of instances that anything like 

 satisfactory comparisons will be effected ; and in nearly all 

 instances we shall only reach a complete mental picture by 

 combining conditions from many different areas. But the success 

 that has so far rewarded this method affords encouragement in the 

 task of examination and selection, and gives us reason to hope that 

 the study of existing physiography and physiographical causes will 

 prove in the future, as in the past, the master-key with which to 

 unlock the secrets which Geology still holds for us. 



(7) Need for New Geographical Work. 



It is in coin of this denomination that the Geologist looks to the 

 Geographer to repay part of his debt to Geology. Our science has 

 given to Geography much to which its recent progress is due. The 

 structure of the rock-masses of which land-forms are built up, the 

 adjustment of denuding agencies to that structure, the existence 

 in the past of causes now no longer in operation, and of alien 

 structures, long since removed, but the influence of which may still 

 be traced ; all these and many other aids have been given to 

 Geographers in their attempt to explain land-forms. 



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