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and accurately recorded, possess a value which is in many cases 

 independent of the theoretical inferences that may be deduced from 

 them : it is a science which disdains not the aid of the humblest 

 labourers who can widen the range of its observations ; it is a sci- 

 ence also in which both facts and theories can be communicated 

 more accurately and more rapidly by a graphic and vivid oral de- 

 scription, aided by an immediate reference to maps, drawings and 

 specimens, than by the most elaborate and laborious written descrip- 

 tions ; it is a science which can only be learnt by being seen, and 

 which can only be seen through ten thousand eyes. In all these, 

 and in many other important particulars, it differs from the majority 

 of those sciences which most commonly come under the notice of 

 the Royal Society ; and the many circumstances which not only jus- 

 tify, but in some degree render necessary, the discussions upon the 

 papers read, or the facts communicated to the Geological Society, 

 would almost entirely cease to apply if extended to us. And when 

 we further consider the varied knowledge and accomplishments, the 

 lively wit and rare eloquence of many of those distinguished men 

 who usually take part in those debates, and who are themselves the 

 highest authorities in the very science which on such occasions they 

 are called upon to illustrate and to teach, we should be disposed 

 rather to regard them as lectures delivered by great masters to pu- 

 pils who come to learn, than as the discourses of philosophers, 

 amongst each other, upon the more abstract and less attractive de- 

 partments of human knowledge. 



And now, Gentlemen, before I conclude this portion of my address, 

 there remains but one other point which I think it my duty to notice. 

 A trust of great importance, imposed on the President of the Royal 

 Society by the will of the last Earl of Bridgewater, the most onerous 

 and responsible duties of which devolved upon my worthy friend and 

 predecessor Mr. Davies Gilbert, is at length terminated, by the ap- 

 pearance, which has been long and anxiously expected, of the eighth 

 Treatise of the series. It would ill become me to speak of the mode 

 in which that important duty was discharged by him, or of the prin- 

 ciples which guided himself and his distinguished assessors, in the se- 

 lection either of subjects or of the authors ; but a list which is headed 

 by the name of Whewell and closed by that of Buckland, can hardly 

 be considered as an unworthy representation of the science and lite- 

 rature of this country. 



Amongst the losses sustained by the Society during the last year, 

 will be found many names of persons distinguished for their services 

 both in literature and in science ; and if we might be allowed to form 

 a judgement from the very great proportion of these eminent men 

 whose ages have approached the extreme limits of human life, we 

 might conclude with great confidence that the most severe studies 

 and the most trying climates, if pursued with temperance or guarded 

 against with care, are not unfavourable either to health or longe- 

 vity. The list which has been placed in my hands contains the names 

 of twenty-one Fellows and two Foreign Members, and I greatly re- 

 gret that the notice which I am enabled to take of some of the most 



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