Vol. 59.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Hx 



but there are abundant references, showing his grasp of the subject, 

 interspersed throughout his geological papers generally. He dis- 

 covered evidences of glacial action in the district of the Sierra de 

 Guadarrama, etc. He was much interested in the subject of earth- 

 quakes, assigning them generally to orogenic causes. 



On the side of palaeontology Macpherson did but little ; yet one 

 important palasontological discovery must be credited to him, namely, 

 that of Archazocyathus in the rocks of the province of Seville, which 

 established for the first time the Cambrian age of those beds. 



He was the first to introduce modern methods of petrography 

 into Spain ; ho made his own slides, and was an adept in the use 

 of the petrological microscope. His house was truly a combined 

 petrological laboratory and geological lecture-room, open to the 

 use of all who cared to learn. Among his petrological papers may 

 be mentioned those on ' The Peridotitic Origin of the Serpentines 

 of the Serrania de Ronda/ 1875 ; i The Eruptive Rocks of the 

 Province of Cadiz,' 1876 ; ' Petrological Descriptions of the Archaean 

 Rocks of Galicia/ 1886, and of Andalusia, 1887 ; ' The Teschenites 

 of Portugal & the Ophites of Andalusia/ 1889. His last paper in 

 this department, on the subject of ' Molecular Motion in Solid Rocks/ 

 was published in the year 1890. 



To all this he added a keen interest in the science of meteorology, 

 in which he made many important observations. 



Macpherson was an enthusiast and an expert in the photographic 

 art, not only in ordinary photography but also in telephotography. 

 He took countless photographs of landscapes and structures eminent 

 for their geological and archaeological bearing, and presented them 

 freely to those who were interested in these subjects. 



The scientific lifework and output of Macpherson were great, both 

 in extent and in depth. Nearly all the various branches of geology 

 received his attention. He took up in turn and published papers 

 on mineralogy, petrography, orogenic geology, and dynamic 

 geology. His life was devoted to the pursuit of science for 

 the sake of science ; but the absolute scrupulosity and veracity 

 which forbade him to modify in the minutest particular the results 

 of his work in order to bolster up his theories, and forbade him at 

 the same time to conceal an} r fact which might affect those theories 

 adversely, rendered his literary style somewhat obscure, so that his 

 published writings do not give us a true idea of his real scientific 

 personality. In speech, however, he was clear and concise, and so 

 enthusiastic in expression that his influence among Spanish geologists 

 was deep and well founded. His reputation also was very great 



