ON THE COMBINATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



331 



in combination with the metropolitan head-quarters. Take Mal- 

 vern first as an example. There the London Association -would 

 go, and wonld be joined by the Worcester, Cotteswold, Leicester, 

 and other Societies around, and by the members of those more 

 distant societies, such as the Kent, the Cornish, the Scotch and Irish, 

 who felt interest in the geology of that instructive region. 



Mr. Salter is now pointing out in our columns good work to be 

 done on the Longmynds. If the London Association inaugurated 

 an excursion there under efficient leadership, say even, perhaps, under 

 that of Mr. Salter himself, would there not be a hundred or more 

 geologists from all parts of England who would be ready and willing 

 to enjoy a week's work on the mountains of Shropshire ? 



The constitution of the Geological Society is framed for the pub- 

 lishing of acconvplished results, and there is an inherent dignity in 

 the fixity of its meetings ; but the geologists of the Association com- 

 bined, if we understood their original purpose rightly, for mutual 

 instruction and active work. 



Let it not be understood that we are advocating mere gatherings. 

 A concourse of people accumulated at one spot for the purpose of 

 strolling over a country and dining together at the end of their 

 ramble, does no more than promote good fellowship. It does almost 

 nothing for science, not even so much as one stalwart arm would do 

 in solitude by itself. But the work on such occasions should be con- 

 templated and designed beforehand, and the geologists of the party 

 should, like trained soldiers, be each put to his proper duty. Suppose 

 a party of geologists at Dover, what good would they be likely to 

 do scrambling along the cliffs one after the other ? Give each mem- 

 ber of the party a particular duty to do — a particular stratum to 

 examine, a section to measure and draw in detail, a tract of. country 

 to examine and map. Send out an exploring party to find cuttings 

 or sections, faults or fissures ; another party to level and take dips. 

 With such an organized party surveying the ground, marking every 

 bed, and labelling every fossil, no field-day would be a dies non, but 

 each would be " a red-letter day" for geology. If the Geologists' 

 Association has been slothful, let them buckle on their armour and 

 set-to even this summer. There is yet time for them to work out 

 their proper destiny and attain their proper position. The last meet- 



