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Annual report for 1869
GEOLOGISTS' ASSOOIATION. ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1869.
Two features are mainly noticeable in the proceedings of the Association during the past year, the increased and successful development of their excursions, and the number and quality of the papers they have printed and circulated among the members. The success of the excursions has been mainly, or at any rate, in a great degree, dependent on the peculiar qualifications for their conduct possessed by the President, and the zeal and devotion he has shown in the sacrifice of his valuable tim.e to affording the largest amount of instruction and assistance possible to the members of the Association. The excursions have extended over a wide area, and over several geological horizons. The Oxford series of Middle Oolites, the red chalk of Hunstanton, the chalk with flints and grey chalk of Caterham and its neighbourhood, the greensand beds of Guildford, and the valley gravels of Tottenham and Crayford, have all been successively studied, under the able guidance of Professor Morris; and further, the Association possesses the advantage of a permanent record of these visits in the excellent reports of Mr. Thorne, Mr. Meyer, Mr. Evans, and the President, which have already been distributed to members. These show the extent of the field of interest accessible to the association, its wide range in geologic time, its richness in characteristic fossils, and the numerous and valuable illustrations it affords of many striking phenomena of geology and physical geography. Your Committee have, on previous occasions, urged the importance to geological students of verifying in the field the statements and inferences they find in books, and they point to these reports as demonstrating- the truth and value of their former appeals. Your Committee have had occasion during these excursions to note the numerous societies for the cultivation and stuuy of
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natural science, now widely scattered over the surface of the country, and their hearty desire for mutual co-operation and instruction. As a metropolitan body, the Geologists' Association presents peculiar facilities for cultivating these beneficial relations, and your Oommittee suggest to individual members the desirability of exercising their influenee with a view to extend the knowledge of the objects and labours of the Association among these local societies, and of obtaining the communication of their observations and opinions as to facts and phenomena bearing upon our particular study, and coming within their special cognisance. Your Oommittee have observed also, and wish particularly to direct the attention of members to the various local monographs on departments of natural science, of which both the demand and supply has been stimulated by local societies. The Flora of Middlesex, for example, has recently appeared in a compact, convenient, and attractive form. The labours of the geologists employed on our national survey are invaluable, and within their scope, leave nothing to be desired for the metropolitan counties j but the form in which they have appeared is not generally available for the purposes of the student, while the scale and range of a national survey necessarily prohibits the inclusion of many points of detail which are highly interesting to local observers. Your Oommittee, therefore, suggest for future consideration the possibility, by the conjoint action of the Association, of the preparation of a handbook of Metropolitan Geology. As touching upon the best means of informing the members and geologists, and naturalists generally, of the meetings and excursions of our Association, it has occurred to your Oommittee whether, in lieu of sending to individual members circular notices of such meetings, it might not be advisable to agree upon some organ of publiJity mutually convenient, and insert therein by way of advertisement, the future papers and excursions. Every one interested would look in that special journal for the Association's programme, the general public would be kept informed of our doings, and our Secretary would be relieved from the troublesome and profitless task of directing hundreds of envelopes periodically.
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3 Your Committee feel peculiar pleasure in reminding the Association of the number and value of the papers printed and circulated during the past year: thc al1mirabJy illustrated memoir on the chief groups of the Cephalopoda, for which they are indebted to the industry and liberality of our VicePresident, Mr. Wiltshire; Mr. Henry VV ool1wards' very interesting account of the animals associated with prehistoric man j Mr. l\feyer's excellent resume of the Geology of Godalming; Mr. Crombie's most suggestive and peculiarly opportune paper on the Geological Relations of the British Flora j Mr. Rupert Jones' paper on a subject in which he holds a rank second to none in palreontology, the Palreozoie Bivalved Entomostraca; and Mr. Tylor's beautifully illustrated memoir on Quaternary Gravels, form a series of which our Association may be justly proud. Nor do the papers read at our evening meetings fall short in interest and importance to those of former years. But your Committee, while most gratefully acknowledging their obligations to those gentlemen who have so kindly placed the results of their studies before the Association, cannot but regret that the subjoined list does not contain a greater number of the names of members whom they believe to be well qualified to occupy a place in it. The following papers have been read during the past year:On Oorals, by Dr. DUNCAN, F.R.S., F.G.S. On the Flora of the Ooal Period, by W~l. OARRUTHERS, F.L.S., F.G.S. On Diamonds, by J. TENNANT, F.G.S., &c. On Palooozoic Bivalved Entomostraca, by T. RUPERT JONES, F.G.S. On the Lead Bearing Strata of the North of England, by J. :MORRIS, F.G.S., President. On the Oxford Excursion, by C. EVANS, F.G.S. On the Oaterham and Oroydon Excursion, by JAMES THORNE. On Oomparative Anatomy as applied to Geology, by O. O. BLAKE, F.G.S. On the Sulphur Mines of Spain, by J. R. PATTISON, F.G.S. On Some Chalk Sections between Croydon and Oxtead, by C. EVANS, F.G.S.
Papers are promised for the ensuing Session by the following gentlemen ; Mr. SAUNDERS, " DOWKER, " WOODWARD, " WALKER, " WILTSHIRE, " CRESY,
Mr. MEYER, " LEIGHTON, "
TENNANT,
"
KENT,
" CROMBIE, Dr. RICHARDSON, And others.
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4 The financial condition of your Association continues to offer matter for congratulation. While they have expended upon printing the several papers already enumerated the unusually large sum of £45 and of £10 upon additions to their library, they are yet able to retain in hand, after discharging all their liabilities, a balance of £41. According to the rules of the Association' the whole of your Committee and Officers vacate their seats, and submit themselves for re-election with two exceptions. Your Committee deeply regret to announce that Mr. Noyes, who has for some years been one of our most regular attendants at our meetings, died on 2nd of September last, and Mr. Evans, who has for many years rendered most valuable services by reading papers, assisting at our committee meetings, and taking care of our library, finds that his other occupations prevent him from devoting so much time as he could wish to the objects of our Association. In their place your committee recommend Messrs. Lobley and Hopkinson, who have this year been good enough to discharge the duties of your auditors. Your Committee recommend the following list of officers for the year 1870 : -
President.-JoHN MORRIS, F.G.S., &c., Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University College, London. Vice-Presidents.-C. T. RICHARDSON, M.D.; E. CRESY; J. TENNANT, F.G.S., F.RG.S., F.C. S., F.M.S., F.L.S.; REV. T. WILTSHIRE, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.RG.S., F.RA.S. Treasurer.-W. HISLOP, F.RA.S., &c., 177, St. John Street Road, E.C. General Oommittee : J. LOBLEY, F.G.S. REV. JAMES CROMBIE, M.A., T. LOVICK. F.L.S., F.G.S. C. J. A.MEYER. J. HOPKINSON, F.G.S., J. PICKERING. F.RM.S. G. POTTER, F.RM.S. J. W. ILOTT. J. THORNE W. H. LEIGHTON, F.G.S. H. WOODWARD, F.G.S., Z.S.
J. W. BAILEY.
Honorary Secretary.-J. CUMMING, a.E., F.G.S., 7, Montague Place, Russell Square, W.O. Honorary Libra/'ian.-A. BOTT, A.A., F.G.S.
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Two features are mainly noticeable in the proceedings of the Association during the past year, the increased and successful development of their excursions, and the number and quality of the papers they have printed and circulated among the members. The success of the excursions has been mainly, or at any rate, in a great degree, dependent on the peculiar qualifications for their conduct possessed by the President, and the zeal and devotion he has shown in the sacrifice of his valuable tim.e to affording the largest amount of instruction and assistance possible to the members of the Association. The excursions have extended over a wide area, and over several geological horizons. The Oxford series of Middle Oolites, the red chalk of Hunstanton, the chalk with flints and grey chalk of Caterham and its neighbourhood, the greensand beds of Guildford, and the valley gravels of Tottenham and Crayford, have all been successively studied, under the able guidance of Professor Morris; and further, the Association possesses the advantage of a permanent record of these visits in the excellent reports of Mr. Thorne, Mr. Meyer, Mr. Evans, and the President, which have already been distributed to members. These show the extent of the field of interest accessible to the association, its wide range in geologic time, its richness in characteristic fossils, and the numerous and valuable illustrations it affords of many striking phenomena of geology and physical geography. Your Committee have, on previous occasions, urged the importance to geological students of verifying in the field the statements and inferences they find in books, and they point to these reports as demonstrating- the truth and value of their former appeals. Your Committee have had occasion during these excursions to note the numerous societies for the cultivation and stuuy of
[67]
2
natural science, now widely scattered over the surface of the country, and their hearty desire for mutual co-operation and instruction. As a metropolitan body, the Geologists' Association presents peculiar facilities for cultivating these beneficial relations, and your Oommittee suggest to individual members the desirability of exercising their influenee with a view to extend the knowledge of the objects and labours of the Association among these local societies, and of obtaining the communication of their observations and opinions as to facts and phenomena bearing upon our particular study, and coming within their special cognisance. Your Oommittee have observed also, and wish particularly to direct the attention of members to the various local monographs on departments of natural science, of which both the demand and supply has been stimulated by local societies. The Flora of Middlesex, for example, has recently appeared in a compact, convenient, and attractive form. The labours of the geologists employed on our national survey are invaluable, and within their scope, leave nothing to be desired for the metropolitan counties j but the form in which they have appeared is not generally available for the purposes of the student, while the scale and range of a national survey necessarily prohibits the inclusion of many points of detail which are highly interesting to local observers. Your Oommittee, therefore, suggest for future consideration the possibility, by the conjoint action of the Association, of the preparation of a handbook of Metropolitan Geology. As touching upon the best means of informing the members and geologists, and naturalists generally, of the meetings and excursions of our Association, it has occurred to your Oommittee whether, in lieu of sending to individual members circular notices of such meetings, it might not be advisable to agree upon some organ of publiJity mutually convenient, and insert therein by way of advertisement, the future papers and excursions. Every one interested would look in that special journal for the Association's programme, the general public would be kept informed of our doings, and our Secretary would be relieved from the troublesome and profitless task of directing hundreds of envelopes periodically.
[68]
3 Your Committee feel peculiar pleasure in reminding the Association of the number and value of the papers printed and circulated during the past year: thc al1mirabJy illustrated memoir on the chief groups of the Cephalopoda, for which they are indebted to the industry and liberality of our VicePresident, Mr. Wiltshire; Mr. Henry VV ool1wards' very interesting account of the animals associated with prehistoric man j Mr. l\feyer's excellent resume of the Geology of Godalming; Mr. Crombie's most suggestive and peculiarly opportune paper on the Geological Relations of the British Flora j Mr. Rupert Jones' paper on a subject in which he holds a rank second to none in palreontology, the Palreozoie Bivalved Entomostraca; and Mr. Tylor's beautifully illustrated memoir on Quaternary Gravels, form a series of which our Association may be justly proud. Nor do the papers read at our evening meetings fall short in interest and importance to those of former years. But your Committee, while most gratefully acknowledging their obligations to those gentlemen who have so kindly placed the results of their studies before the Association, cannot but regret that the subjoined list does not contain a greater number of the names of members whom they believe to be well qualified to occupy a place in it. The following papers have been read during the past year:On Oorals, by Dr. DUNCAN, F.R.S., F.G.S. On the Flora of the Ooal Period, by W~l. OARRUTHERS, F.L.S., F.G.S. On Diamonds, by J. TENNANT, F.G.S., &c. On Palooozoic Bivalved Entomostraca, by T. RUPERT JONES, F.G.S. On the Lead Bearing Strata of the North of England, by J. :MORRIS, F.G.S., President. On the Oxford Excursion, by C. EVANS, F.G.S. On the Oaterham and Oroydon Excursion, by JAMES THORNE. On Oomparative Anatomy as applied to Geology, by O. O. BLAKE, F.G.S. On the Sulphur Mines of Spain, by J. R. PATTISON, F.G.S. On Some Chalk Sections between Croydon and Oxtead, by C. EVANS, F.G.S.
Papers are promised for the ensuing Session by the following gentlemen ; Mr. SAUNDERS, " DOWKER, " WOODWARD, " WALKER, " WILTSHIRE, " CRESY,
Mr. MEYER, " LEIGHTON, "
TENNANT,
"
KENT,
" CROMBIE, Dr. RICHARDSON, And others.
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4 The financial condition of your Association continues to offer matter for congratulation. While they have expended upon printing the several papers already enumerated the unusually large sum of £45 and of £10 upon additions to their library, they are yet able to retain in hand, after discharging all their liabilities, a balance of £41. According to the rules of the Association' the whole of your Committee and Officers vacate their seats, and submit themselves for re-election with two exceptions. Your Committee deeply regret to announce that Mr. Noyes, who has for some years been one of our most regular attendants at our meetings, died on 2nd of September last, and Mr. Evans, who has for many years rendered most valuable services by reading papers, assisting at our committee meetings, and taking care of our library, finds that his other occupations prevent him from devoting so much time as he could wish to the objects of our Association. In their place your committee recommend Messrs. Lobley and Hopkinson, who have this year been good enough to discharge the duties of your auditors. Your Committee recommend the following list of officers for the year 1870 : -
President.-JoHN MORRIS, F.G.S., &c., Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University College, London. Vice-Presidents.-C. T. RICHARDSON, M.D.; E. CRESY; J. TENNANT, F.G.S., F.RG.S., F.C. S., F.M.S., F.L.S.; REV. T. WILTSHIRE, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.RG.S., F.RA.S. Treasurer.-W. HISLOP, F.RA.S., &c., 177, St. John Street Road, E.C. General Oommittee : J. LOBLEY, F.G.S. REV. JAMES CROMBIE, M.A., T. LOVICK. F.L.S., F.G.S. C. J. A.MEYER. J. HOPKINSON, F.G.S., J. PICKERING. F.RM.S. G. POTTER, F.RM.S. J. W. ILOTT. J. THORNE W. H. LEIGHTON, F.G.S. H. WOODWARD, F.G.S., Z.S.
J. W. BAILEY.
Honorary Secretary.-J. CUMMING, a.E., F.G.S., 7, Montague Place, Russell Square, W.O. Honorary Libra/'ian.-A. BOTT, A.A., F.G.S.
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