152 Proceedings of the Royal Pltysical Society. 
There would appear also to be this general arrangement 
in the seeming irregularities of the earth's surface, that the 
depressions of the sea-bottoms accompany and compensate 
the elevations of continents, and thus preserve the due equi- 
librium of the rotating spheroid. Thus tlie Atlantic is a 
great hollow basin between the elevated continents of Asia 
and Africa on the east and America on the west ; while the 
deepest portions of the Pacific are on the west side of the 
American continent, and its central portions are compara- 
tively shallow. Even in inland seas, the depths of the 
Mediterranean, ranging from 5000 to 15,000 feet, correspond 
with the elevations of Mont Blanc and the Alpine range, 
while the shallow Baltic and North Sea are surrounded by 
lands of no great elevation. We thus find in the great 
operations of nature that adaptation of means to ends which 
pervades the whole works of creation, and which are as 
perfect in the arrangements of the mechanism of worlds as 
in the minutest objects which exist on their surfaces. 
HI. A Wernerian Examination of the Six Points of Pluto -Huttonism. 
By Professor W. Macdonald, St Andrews. 
Wednesday, 23d March 1864. — David Page, Esq., President, in the 
Chair. 
Andrew Davidson, Esq., physician and surgeon, Antananarivo, 
Madagascar, was balloted for, and elected a Non-Resident Member of 
the Society. 
The following Donations were laid on the table, and thanks voted to 
the Donors : — 
1. (1.) A Synopsis of the Carboniferous Limestone Fossils of Ireland. 
(2.) A Synopsis of the Silurian Fossils of Ireland.— -From Hichard 
Griffith, F.G.S. 2. Transactions of the Botanical Society, Vol. VII., 
Part 3, 1863. — From the Society. 3. Canadian Journal of Industry, 
Science, and Art. New Series, Nos. 46, 47. July to September 
1863. — From the Canadian Institute. 4, Rules for Zoological Nomen- 
clature. By the late Hugh E. Strickland, M.A., F.R.S. Authorised 
by Section D. of British Association at Manchester, 1842. Reprinted 
by requisition of Section D. at Newcastle, 1863. Two Copies. — From 
Sir William Jardine. 5. Otago Provincial Government Gazette, Vol. 
VI., No. 274. Geological Expedition to the West Coast of Otago, New 
Zealand, 1863.— From the Agent of the Provincial Government of 
Otago, Edinburgh. 
