2 



farthing ; but he thinks it has been found under his own eyes. Some of 

 these working class antiquaries have very large transactions with the deal- 

 ers in antiquites and the fabricators of them. At this moment, notwith- 

 standing a law suit between a dealer and the proprietor of the Athenceum 

 the archaeological world is divided as to the value of a find of what are 

 called pilgrims' medals, or tokens. 



Coin collecting seldom gets very far, but still, if indulged in at a consi- 

 derable expense, the owner has always value for his money ; and there is 

 one comfort, that the coins do not eat and drink, nor require much expense 

 for their entertainment. It is, however, a vicarious pursuit, dependent on the 

 good faith of others ; but in most parts of these islands a man may gather 

 minerals or fossils for himself, and have the satisfaction of finding his own 

 materials, aud that is a great one. These he can, with a little time and 

 trouble, dress up, and bring to a suitable condition for preservation and 

 display ; and as the objects are durable, but little expense need be encoun- 

 tered by the humble collector. In many neighbourhoods a large number 

 of minerals and fossils may be gathered, and then there is the resource of 

 a ramble into another formation ; for, on account of the great complexity 

 of our geological arrangements, we have in these islands abundant variety, 

 far different from some of the great basins or plains of Kussia and of India, 

 where there are large districts with superficial diluvial or alluvial forma- 

 tions, without any intruded rock. Thus there is a great encouragement 

 to the pursuit of geology here to what there is in many countries even 

 near to us. Take, for instance, the low parts of Flanders, the like coun- 

 try in Holland, or the northern regions of Germany, where there is little 

 for the humble student to explore on his own account. He may witness 

 the gigantic operations, of creative action, but he may leam them better 

 at second hand from others than on the spot, as in his narrow sphere he 

 wants the means of comparison, unless he be near the sea, when he may 

 observe the likeness or identity of its shores and of the adjoining dry land; 

 but he has to witness the accumulated results of thousands of years, or 

 the influence of phenomena long lost, with only a brick, as it were, to 

 judge of a vast edifice, the means by which it was brought together, its 

 form, its appliances, and the beauties of its construction. 



By means of this Geologists' Association the home student will receive 

 constant encouragement, for he can learn when he has remarkable spe- 

 cimens beyond the common means of reference, and by the increase of 

 members, and the development of operations, he will have made accessible 

 to him the whole cf the regions of these islands, fertile in the records of 

 every formation, from the primeval to the last depositions of sea or river silt 

 Thus he will not deem himself doomed to the possession of manifold copies o 

 a few specimens, because he will know of working brethren in other districts, 

 by exchange with whom, to make his fewer resources comparative wealth, 

 and from the moment of collection to give him assurance that it depends on 

 his own industry and energy alone to become the owner of as large a museum 

 as his house will hold, and to be able to display to his neighbours the re- 

 cords of other districts, and afford practical materials for the study of the 

 science to all who desire to extend their knowledge beyond books to the 

 actual things themselves, which are the true coins and medals of this 

 world's great history. This is a source of enjoyment which cannot fail to 

 prove gratifying to any right-minded man, and the enjoyment of it will 

 induce many to enrol themselves in this Association. 



Our pursuits, too, have this moral advantage, that they are social, that 

 they can be innocently engaged in by the young, and, what is of great 

 importance, that our wives, daughters, and sisters may share with us the 

 interest, the pleasure, and the honour. And you will remember how great 

 a part women, quietly labouring, have had in the extension of our know- 

 ledge of the fossils of our islands. Mr. James De Carle Sowerby, whose 

 eminence as a labourer in fossil conchology is known to you better, per- 



