Vol. 59.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. lxxXVll 



What well-read geologist among us is not aware that every 

 variation in the contour of our country, as it rises from the encircling 

 seas that have guarded our freedom, is dependent upon its geology ? 

 Where the hard rock-formations reach the seaboard, project the 

 bold headland and its cliffs. Where the soft rocks come down to 

 the shore-line, open out the broad bays. Where the highly resistant 

 rocks are lifted up in broad mass and face the wild ocean, we find 

 a shore-land of rugged cliffs and wild inlets, inhabited only by a 

 few hardy fishermen. Where the easily-yielding rocks have been 

 depressed in mass by geological movements, we have the long- 

 withdrawing estuary, alive with the ships of commerce moving to 

 and fro from the busy and populous seaport at its head. 



Or turning inland and looking over the general aspect of the 

 country, we recognize everywhere not only the paramount influence 

 of the geological formations and geological conditions on the scenery 

 and the relief of the land ; but we trace everywhere the persistent 

 effects of these conditions upon the past and present of the people. 

 All the activities of struggling humanity, in the contest for the 

 bare necessities of existence, for mutual protection, for trade and 

 for progress, have been limited and controlled by the natural bounds 

 marked out by the unvarying geological factors. The original sites 

 of almost every city and town, village and hamlet, ancient castle 

 and modern mansion, were all determined practically by geological 

 considerations. The sites of the old fortresses were fixed by the 

 places of the more or less inaccessible cliffs and scarps, the position 

 of the villages and hamlets by the abundance of the springs, and 

 the settlement of the lands by the comparative richness of the soils. 

 All down the long stream of history, the successive waves of 

 invasion, the ebb and flow of conquering armies, the tracks of 

 inland trade and communication, from the time of the lloman ways, 

 through the roads of the Middle Ages and later, down to the main 

 threads of the network of railways of the present day, have all 

 more or less followed the same general courses, courses determined 

 by the geographical phenomena consequent upon the geological 

 structure of the land. 



It is idle to pursue these matters further, or recall how all the 

 variations in scenery and scenic beauty are dependent upon geological 

 causes; or how these causes determine the productiveness or the 

 healthfulness of a district. But it is impossible for us, to whom 

 these matters are as familiar as household words, to conceive that 

 the education of the geographer, the traveller, the man of commerce, 



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