A20TVERSARY ADDRESS OE THE PRESIDENT. 53 



At the last meeting of the British Association, held at Birmingham, 

 geological questions occupied a full share of the attention of its 

 members. In addition to the comprehensive address of the Presi- 

 dent, Sir William Dawson, which dealt with very complex geological 

 problems, and the lucid discourse of my predecessor in this Chair, 

 who supplemented the reviews which he has given in this room of 

 the results of the application of microscopic methods to the study of 

 igneous and metamorphic rocks respectively by an equally striking 

 and suggestive treatment of the aqueous rocks from the same point 

 of view, Geologists have to thank the distinguished mathematician, 

 Professor G. H. Darwin, for the comfort afforded to them in his 

 very modest and thoughtful address. Should certain more recent 

 utterances from the mathematical fold have produced a moment's 

 disquiet in any faint-hearted Pellow of this Society, I can confidently 

 recommend to him the perusal of Professor Darwin's cautious and 

 reassuring essay. 



The commencement of several important undertakings have marked 

 the present year in the annals of geological science. 



Those who desire to perpetuate the memory of the late John 

 Morris could not possibly have chosen a better method for doing so 

 than that of promoting the publication of a new edition of his in- 

 valuable ' Catalogue of British Fossils.' In the third of a century 

 which has elapsed since the second edition appeared, the progress of 

 palaeontological research has been so rapid that no single individual 

 — even if gifted with the encyclopaedic mind of Morris himself — could 

 possibly expect to cope with it. A number of able workers have, 

 however, rendered themselves responsible for the cataloguing of the 

 several groups which they have especially studied, while Dr. Henry 

 Woodward has undertaken to act as Editor. Professor Morris's 

 nearest surviving relative having engaged to supply the necessary 

 funds, and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press having 

 arranged to print it, we may hope at no distant date . to see this 

 important work issued. 1 



Mr. Teall, in his ' British Petrography,' has entered upon a task, 

 the accomplishment of which was much needed, and which is well 

 worthy of the sympathy and support of all geologists. He proposes 

 to prepare descriptions, to be illustrated by carefully executed 

 coloured plates, of the chief types of our British rocks. How com- 

 petent Mr. Teall is for the execution of such an undertaking, he has 

 given ample proof in several papers laid before this Society. In these 

 days of rapidly increasing petrographical literature, every one must 



