278 Proceedings of the British Association, 



lently estranged from each other, and show them that the features of 

 the monsters of their apprehension were not so repulsive as their 

 imaginations or intolerance had drawn them. I know that there are 

 some zealots who are ready to denounce the interchange of the com- 

 monest charities of life with those whose opinions, however honestly 

 and conscientiously formed, they believe to be unfounded or danger- 

 ous ; but thgre is a wide and fundamental distinction between the 

 condemnation of opinions and of the persons who hold them ; and 

 though I should be far from advocating that spurious and false liber- 

 ality which should assume, that in the selection of friends, or even 

 in the ordinary intercourse of society, there should be a total sup- 

 pression of all that is distinctive, both of profession and of opinion, 

 yet there are numberless occasions on which we can neither notice 

 them or know of their existence, without the violation of all those 

 rules of courtesy and good-breeding, which the most scrupulous 

 regard for the integrity of our Christian profession and for the best 

 interests of mankind would equally teach us to practise and to 

 respect. 



It was with a view of securing this neutral ground as the exclusive 

 basis of their operations, that the founders of the Association cauti- 

 ously guarded against any extension of its boundaries which might 

 tend to admit new claimants to its occupation. They did not attempt 

 to define the precise limits at which accurate science terminates and 

 speculation begins, but they endeavoured to keep sufficiently within 

 them to prevent the intrusion of discussions which might disturb the 

 peace of our body or even endanger its existence ; experience ha9 

 fully established the wisdom of this law, and the absolute necessity of 

 a rigid adherence to its provisions. 



In returning to the scene of our first labours, the place of our na- 

 tivity, but not of our childhood, it becomes us, as grateful children, 

 to acknowledge our filial obligations to our founders. A reference to 

 the list of these presents, as might be expected after a lapse of 

 thirteen years, some very distinguished names, who have been lost to 

 science. In their number we find the name of Mr. W. Smith, who 

 first received at our meetings the ample recognition of the value 

 of those original and unaided researches, which entitle him to be 

 considered as the father of English Geology ; of Dr. Lloyd, Provost 



