lxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I9OO, 



It is sometimes well for us to look back and to notice the progress 

 that has been made in our science of late years. In adopting 

 this course it has occurred to me to take the somewhat indefinite 

 term of my own geological life, whether from the time when I first 

 studied geology under Prof. Morris ; or when I began to devote 

 myself especially to the science, as an officer of the Geological Survey, 

 in 1857 ; or when I had the honour of becoming a Fellow of this 

 Society some two years later. 



At the time when I was a student at University College, London, 

 laboratory training for the embryo geologist was not to be had : 

 the only available practical work was in excursions, to see rocks 

 in the field ; and in this matter Morris was a master, as all who 

 knew him will bear witness. Indeed we may say that he was 

 ihe first, or among the first, of that now large band of able guides 

 who can explain the geological structure of their districts in the 

 field in such a manner as to make it clear to anyone possessed of 

 ordinary intelligence, though perhaps not of any great amount of 

 geological knowledge. 



In one respect only could the students of those times claim a 

 fairly equal advantage with those of to-day, that is, in having able 

 and zealous men to teach them, and of these Morris was a notable 

 example; but now the number is far greater than then. My old 

 teacher, indeed, imbued his pupils with a strong liking for geological 

 work and led them to take it up, though it was of no direct use to 

 them in their academic career : indirectly, of course, the teaching of 

 such a man was of inestimable service. Nowadays geology has 

 taken its place among the studies for University degrees. 



Geology was the last subject to which my student-mind was given, 

 and I can hardly tell by what happy accident I was led to join 

 Morris's class. It is only rendering due justice to his memory to say 

 that the honourable position which you have allowed me to hold for 

 the past two years could never have been mine, but for the influence 

 which John Morris exercised on my early life. 



Afterwards I had another and more multiple teacher, in the shape of 

 the Geological Survey. Of course, as is the way with raw students, 

 I had a pretty good opinion of my knowledge of geology when I 

 joined that establishment, a mistaken notion speedily got rid of with 

 the help of my genial comrades. Looking back to earlier years of 

 my Survey life, when help and advice were most wanted, I feel 

 bound to note the advantage of having such a chief as Ramsay, whose 

 then unrivalled knowledge of field-geology was freely accessible 



