PEOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIlvTIES. 
99 
doubt be held so in tliis countr}' wlien it was knovrn here." The presiden- 
tial address consisted of details of the lines of stratigraphical and palieonto- 
logical discordances, and the horizons of nnconformability in the Palaeozoic 
group of rocks. Professor Eamsay said that it had been a practice with 
previous presidents to' review the chief geological results of the past year 
in the anniversary address, but want of time had precluded his doing so, 
and he had therefore selected a special topic, the first part of which he now 
read to the meeting, and the continuation of which he would complete 
on the next like occasion. 
In the debate on the official annual report, Mr. Charlesworth, in a 
speech of more than an hour's duration, drew the attention of the Fellows 
to systematic breakings of the fundamental rules of the society's charter 
by the council, and to various other subjects in which he thought that im- 
provement might be made. He said it was a scandal to the society, with 
their large funds and competent income, to have advertised for a paid se- 
cretary who had the responsible duties of the care of a valuable collection 
and the editing of the most im]jortant publications, and to ofler a salar3^of 
£200 a year, without lodging or perquisites, while even the local institu- 
tions of Bristol and York paid £'250, with residences in their buildings. 
He said that the recent election of tlie present assistant-secretary by the 
council had been illegally done, and referred to passages in the cliarter as 
distinctly stating that the ek^ction should be made by the Fellows them- 
selves ; and, when some members of the council obj(>cted that the council 
were empowered to elect an assistant-secretar}- by virtue of a bye-law dele- 
gating such a power to them, Mr. Charlesworth replied by quoting other 
passages from the charter, " that no bye-laws could be made at variance 
to the rules of the charter," and he contended that therefore any such bye- 
law must be not only objectionable but absolutel}' A*oid in law, and that 
any Fellow choosing to do so could, by an injunction of the Court of Queen's 
Bench, set aside the election altogether. He also complained that the 
minute-book had not been laid on the table in accordance with the rules of 
the society. Mr. Warington Smyth asked Mr. Charlesworth whether he 
wished the time of the society to be taken up by the reading of the whole 
of the entries relative to the council meetings for the last six months, as 
over that period various notices relating to the appointment had been 
made. Mr. Charlesworth said he wished the names of the candidates only 
to be read. Mr. Warington Smyth then read an extract to the effect 
" that the report of the committee for the election of an assistant-secretary 
had been received In- the council," and said that that minute did not con- 
tain the names of the candidates. In reply to ]\Ir. Charlesworth, the pre- 
sident said he could not remember the names of the candidates. Informa- 
tion on this subject was thus avoided by the council. Mr. Charlesworth 
then drew attention to the state of the fossils in the museum, and stated 
the collection was, at least as far as the finer and more delicate fossils 
were cfmcerned, in a worthless state. The specimens were in drawers and 
covered only Avith paper. He alluded particularly to the valuable collec- 
tion of Crag fossils presented by INTr. Searles Wood — a collection that re- 
presented the labours of a life — and the finer specimens of aa hich were ab- 
solutely destroyed. He proposed that the Society's collection should be 
reduced in quantity to one-fourth, and that fourth be displayed for practi- 
cal purposes in glass cases. 
The officers elected for the ensuing year are : — President — Professor A. 
C. Kamsay, F.U.S. Vice-Presidents— '6\v P. G. Egerton, Bart., M.P., 
F.E.S. and L.S. ; R. A. C. Godwin- Austen, Esq., F.K.S. ; Leonard Horner, 
Esq., F.E.S. ; Sir Charles Lyell, F.E.S. and L.S. Secretaries — William 
