334 
He had been asked, " of what use are the meetiners of this 
society, and what are its objects ?" He would answer 
these cui bono philosophers by referring them to the papers 
which had been read within the last two years ; and if he 
were called upon to select one individual whose papers were 
more especially deserving of notice, he should refer them 
to those masterly productions of Mr. Thorp, in which he 
had shown the intimate relation subsisting between the pro- 
ductive properties of the various soils and the nature of 
the subjacent strata. If the society had effected nothing 
beyond the production of those papers, it had done that 
which entitled it to the support of every friend to his 
country. It was gratifying to find that the alarms felt by 
some with regard to geology were fast giving way to a more 
correct knowledge of the subject, and so far from being a 
dangerous science, it had proved to be subservient to the 
truth as established in the sacred volume. Neither w^as 
it amiss to observe that geology had opened the eyes of a 
great portion of the community who had previously known 
nothing of the earth. What had geology shown ? Why, 
that the earth was loaded with riches for the benefit of 
man, which, however, would have remained useless, unless 
they had been placed in their present position. Take 
building stone, for instance, which was accessible every 
where to the labour of man. They every where saw in 
the geological phenomena which presented themselves, 
proofs of their wonderful relation to the human race. How 
w^as it that they every where found coal associated with 
beds of iron ore, and, what was still more extraordinary, 
usually contiguous to lime stone, which was necessary to 
flux the iron ore ? Without this advantage, they would have 
been incapable of availing themselves of a great part of 
their metallic riches. The same proof of design was seen 
in what were called faults in the coal strata, which ren- 
