PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. XC11I 
prominence, namely, that of Charles Darwin, who holds an honourable 
place among the geologists of the century, although his geological 
work is apt to be overshadowed by his stupendous labours in the 
domain of biological science. During the five years preceding the 
Queen’s Accession, Darwin was engaged with researches in many 
parts of the world, as Naturalist on board H. M. S. “ Beagle,” and the 
results of his geological observations were afterwards published in the 
volumes entitled “The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs,” 
“Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands,” and “Geological 
Observations in South America.” 
Now, at the close of the Queen’s reign, all of these workers have 
passed away, and a new generation of geologists has arisen. Their 
work, however, lies more in the direction of specialisation and elabora¬ 
tion. The broad lines of the science have been securely laid down, 
and its different branches firmly established. Government Geological 
Surveys are entirely the growth of the last sixty years. During that 
period the greater portion of the British Isles, and of the various 
countries of Europe, as well as large areas of the United States, 
Canada,* India, and Australia have been carefully surveyed, and 
their geological features accurately mapped. The English Survey 
was for long associated with the name of one of the most eminent 
geologists of the reign, namely, the late Sir Andrew C. Ramsay. The 
fossil contents of all the sedimentary formations have now been pretty 
exhaustively explored, tens of thousands of species having been figured 
and described. The department of Petrology may be said to have 
come into existence during the last century, as very little was known 
regarding the precise structure and composition of the different rocks 
before then. Mineralogy, also, athough a much older department of 
geology, has made great strides, owing largely to improved methods 
and appliances of research. Our knowledge of Glacial Geology, or 
the former great extension of the Arctic Ice Sheet, has been entirely 
obtained within the last sixty years, the first observations having been 
made in Switzerland by Louis Agassiz in 1840. The great antiquity 
of man, as an inhabitant of the globe, has gradually come to be 
recognised during the course of the century, though in the face of 
much prejudice. In 1825, the first flint implements of human work¬ 
manship, associated with the bones of extinct animals, were discovered 
by M‘Enery, at Kent’s Cavern, in the south of England. Following 
on this came the great discovery of flint implements at Abbeville, in 
France, by M. Boucher de Perthes; and, in 1863, Lyell summed up 
the argument in his “Antiquity of Man.” 
The economic effects of our increased knowledge of the structure 
of the earth’s crust have been very marked. Agricultural science now 
adapts itself to the varying conditions of soil and sub-soil, according 
to the nature of the rock prevalent in each district. Now that we 
know the precise sequence of the geological formations, mining, 
whether for coal, iron, or the precious metals, has lost much of its 
haphazard character, with the result of an enormous increase of the 
* Within the last few days, the brilliant Chief of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
Dr. George Dawson, has passed away. His father, the late Sir J. W. Dawson, was 
also one of the most noteworthy geologists of the period. 
