19 
1915-16.] Opening Address by the President. 
of Edinburgh. On leaving the Survey he was specially thanked by the 
Department for his distinguished services, extending over a period of 
twenty-one years. In his application for the chair he received the cordial 
support of Charles Darwin. 
During his tenure of the Professorship he brought the geological 
department to a high state of efficiency. Owing to the lack of adequate 
endowment he encountered great difficulties in realising his ideals. 
Ultimately he succeeded in establishing a lectureship in petrology, a 
lectureship in palaeontology, and a museum collection for teaching purposes. 
By the encouragement of research in his laboratories and in the field, he 
sent forth students who have made important contributions to geology and 
who hold prominent positions at home and abroad. As an administrator 
within the University he was no less successful, for when the Science 
Faculty was established in 1894 he was appointed the First Dean — a 
position which he held for nineteen years. 
While geological research was his great aim, he also rendered valuable 
service to the cognate science of geography. In 1884, when Dr Bartholomew 
— then a student in geology — suggested to Professor Geikie that the time 
was ripe for the foundation of a Scottish Geographical Society, he leapt at 
once to the idea. At the original meeting, which took place in the hall of 
the Chamber of Commerce in 1884, it was he who proposed the resolution : 
“ That this meeting, recognising the scientific and general utility of a 
national society for the promotion of geography, resolves that a Geographical 
Society for Scotland be now forirfed.” During the thirty years that have 
elapsed since its foundation, this Society has achieved remarkable success. 
The great aim of the Council has been to improve the teaching of geography 
in schools and to establish lectureships in Scottish Universities. Professor 
Geikie was one of the first vice-presidents, and he held this office till his 
death, except during his occupancy of the presidential chair from 1904 to 
1910. In 1888 he became honorary editor of the Society’s Magazine, and 
contributed articles to its pages. He was awarded the gold medal of the 
Society, and on his retirement from the presidential chair he was presented 
with his portrait in recognition of his devoted service. 
In addition to the volumes already mentioned, James Geikie produced 
others which show his power as a clear expounder and original thinker. 
In 1898 he issued a volume on Earth Sculpture, or the Origin of Land- 
forms , and in 1913 another work on Mountains: their Origin, Growth, 
and Decay, both of which dealt with the borderland of geology and 
geography. In 1898 he produced a text-book on Structural and Field 
Geology, which passed through three editions, thus furnishing striking 
