204 
president’s address. 
have throughout the dim and distant ages of the past taken 
place in the earth’s crust; building up from primordial matter 
the floor, which, itself upheaved, contorted, re-formed, became 
in after-time the stage on which was to appear the marvellous 
beauty of Nature as we now behold it, the wealth of vegetation 
and of animal life, and at last the home of man. I believe 
that I do not claim more than is just in saying that to the 
description of the Palaeozoic and Archaic rocks of Shropshire 
by Murchison, Sedgwick, and others, is chiefly due the key 
which has unlocked these ancient treasures, and solved what 
had previously been looked upon as a profound mystery. 
Those who had the privilege of taking a part in the discoveries 
of some forty or fifty years ago will testify to the enthusiasm 
which prevailed among the geologists of the time. It was 
like the exploration of some newly-found continent, where 
each object is viewed with astonishment and suggests some 
fresh ideas. Pioneers there had been, men like T. Lewis, of 
Aymestry, and Dr. Lloyd, of Ludlow, who, by their patient 
research and careful collection of specimens, as well as by 
their own intelligent correlation of facts, had paved the way 
for others, such as Murchison, who, with wider information, 
and the faculty of describing and writing, were enabled to 
assimilate and reduce to system the results of their labours. 
The extraordinary wealth of almost all these strata in fossil 
remains furnished the clue to their history and arrangement. 
Founded partly on the evidence which these supply, and partly 
on the relative position of the strata, which are here very 
persistent and well marked, the Silurian system was con¬ 
structed. But like most geologists of his age, Sir K. 
Murchison was apparently unable to abandon the notion that 
the fossiliferous strata here explored marked the limits of 
organic life. He had reached, as he thought, the Ultima 
Thule of organised creation, All beyond was without form 
and void. Nor could he ever free his mind from the belief 
in a number of successive and spasmodic acts of creative power, 
nor entertain the view that, however remote these remains 
may be, they imply progenitors from whom they have des¬ 
cended. Yet subsequent research has shown that upon these 
points that eminent observer was in error. The labours of 
Dr. Hicks have proved that though our Shropshire Cambrians 
contain only a few obscure impressions of the worms that 
crawled over their surface when they were soft mud, the very 
same strata at St. David’s Head are stocked with a varied 
and abundant fauna. And as for the correlation and classifi¬ 
cation of still older rocks, the researches of Dr. Callaway and 
his intelligent observation of tracts that previously had either 
escaped notice altogether or been carelessly included with more 
