president's address. 
341 
Strong remarks are made by the same “Free Lance” about the 
futility of local or county lists of plants and animals. These 
strictures, as you will admit, are unjust and uncalled for. Local 
lists furnish the materials from which the general works on British 
Natural History can be constructed. Theoretically it may be 
absurd to limit one’s special studies to an area bounded (in part) by 
the middle of a stream or high-road; but practically one must draw 
the line somewhere, and the careful study of the natural history 
of a county, or even of a parish, may serve its useful purpose, so 
long as attention is given to facts. The resident can do far more 
in the gathering of facts, whether on Geology, Zoology, or Botany, 
than the most distinguished man of science, who can spend but 
a few weeks here and there. In Geology it may be of great 
importance to have a list of fossils from a particular chalk-pit. 
The Geology of Norfolk has attracted the attention of many 
I 
a zealous worker during the past seventy-live years ; but, sad to say, 
the gaps left by the death of the older geologists, do not appear to 
bo tilled by new comers. It is no easy task to stir up others to 
follow in their footsteps. It is not enough to awaken interest in 
matters geological — every one of us may take a general interest 
in the progress of science. To further knowledge, needs much 
study, and much incentive to study. 
Enthusiasm is apt to be damped at the outset by a contempla- 
tion of all that has been done — by the mere list of papers that 
have been published on Norfolk Geology. One cannot but think 
that the harvest has been gathered and that only stray stalks 
remain to be collected. Where then is the incentive to work ? 
There are many, it is true, who take up science as a pastime or 
recreation ; who are content with collecting the fossils that have 
been collected before, and in studying the strata that have been 
described over and over again. In their rambles they find true 
enjoyment and profit, for in the contemplation of the great changes 
which the earth has undergone, the philosophy of each individual 
must attain a higher standard. Those are they who pursue 
knowledge for its own sake. They are the patrons of science, and 
they serve to stimulate and encourage others to work. 
