Celebration of the centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 1935: Difference between revisions

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== The celebration of the centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain ==
== The celebration of the centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain ==
 
[[List of delegates and overseas guests who attended the ceremonies of the opening of the new Museum of Practical Geology and the celebration of the centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain|'''List of delegates''']]
On the following day (4th July, 1935) the Centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain was celebrated at a meeting held in the hall of the Royal Geographical Society in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Lord Rutherford presided, and with him on the platform were Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B., Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. T. F. Sibly, Chairman of the Geological Survey Board, Sir John Flett, K.B.E., Director of the Geological Survey and Museum, and Professor Coleman, Toronto, Professor Mathews, Baltimore, U.S.A., Professor de Margerie, Paris, and Professor Dr. von Seidlitz, Director of the Geological Survey of Prussia.
On the following day (4th July, 1935) the Centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain was celebrated at a meeting held in the hall of the Royal Geographical Society in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Lord Rutherford presided, and with him on the platform were Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B., Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. T. F. Sibly, Chairman of the Geological Survey Board, Sir John Flett, K.B.E., Director of the Geological Survey and Museum, and Professor Coleman, Toronto, Professor Mathews, Baltimore, U.S.A., Professor de Margerie, Paris, and Professor Dr. von Seidlitz, Director of the Geological Survey of Prussia.



Revision as of 14:20, 22 September 2019

From: Flett, J.S. 1937. The History of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Delegates and Staff, Centenary Celebrations, 4th July, 1935 (From a photograph by the London of Panoramic Co.) Plate XIII.
Delegates and Staff, Centenary Celebrations, 4th July, 1935 (From a photograph by the London of Panoramic Co.) Key to individuals.

The celebration of the centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain

List of delegates On the following day (4th July, 1935) the Centenary of the Geological Survey of Great Britain was celebrated at a meeting held in the hall of the Royal Geographical Society in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Lord Rutherford presided, and with him on the platform were Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B., Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. T. F. Sibly, Chairman of the Geological Survey Board, Sir John Flett, K.B.E., Director of the Geological Survey and Museum, and Professor Coleman, Toronto, Professor Mathews, Baltimore, U.S.A., Professor de Margerie, Paris, and Professor Dr. von Seidlitz, Director of the Geological Survey of Prussia.

In his opening remarks Lord Rutherford expressed his appreciation of the high interest of the occasion and of the great services which the Geological Survey of Great Britain had done to geological science and to the furtherance of the industries of Great Britain. This large and representative gathering of British Dominion, Colonial and foreign scientists was a striking indication of the respect and admiration with which the British Survey was regarded in all quarters of the world.

The Director of the Geological Survey then presented to the Chairman the delegates who were present to represent British and foreign Governments and Institutions. The front seats had been reserved for the delegates, and, as their number was so large, it was not convenient for them to advance and cross the platform. Consequently, as their names and the institutions they represented were enunciated they rose in their seats and made a formal bow to the Chairman.

Sir John Flett then gave a short address on the history and functions of the Geological Survey.

After outlining the circumstances which attended the foundation of the Geological Survey and the history of its early years under De la Beche, he passed in review the successive stages of its development under Murchison, Ramsay and Geikie. The Geological Survey was one of four institutions that were conceived in the fertile brain of De la Beche, the others being the School of Mines, the Mineral Statistics Bureau and the Museum of Practical Geology. They had all survived and prospered, the Royal School of Mines being now associated with the Imperial College of Science and Technology in a splendid building adjacent to the new Museum of Practical Geology, while the Mineral Statistics were taken over by the Mines Department and the Imperial Institute. The Museum in Jermyn Street, long famous as a centre of scientific research and training, had now been replaced by a more commodious building. The Geological Survey continued, much expanded and improved, but still in large measure working on the lines laid down by De la Beche, and it had served as a model which other countries had wisely imitated. Since 1900 new energy had been imparted by the policy adopted by Teall and by his successor Strahan, and the institution had never been more active, more competent and more progressive than at the present day. Every department of geological investigation was represented on the staff and in its publications, which had a world-wide distribution and were representative of the best standard of British scientific research. Apart from its maps and memoirs, which were indispensable guides for many departments of British industry, the Survey had made notable contributions to the solution of problems of water supply, building, engineering, drainage, town planning and agriculture. As a national service it had received much encouragement and support, both from the authorities and from the public, and could hopefully look forward to another century of useful work and scientific discovery, assured that, in serving the public and in contributing to the advance of science, it would receive the recognition that it deserved.

The list of delegates and overseas guests who participated in the Celebration, and of those who were nominated but were unavoidably prevented from being present, will be found in Appendix I, p. 221.

The Chairman then called on certain representative delegates to reply.

Professor A. P. Coleman, F.R.S., of the University of Toronto, Canada, said:

Not long ago, in a museum on the other side of the Atlantic, I stood before a geological map of Great Britain which bore the inscription, ‘A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales with Part of Scotland, by W. Smith, Aug. 1815’; and was led to ponder over the work of that famous Land Surveyor, William Smith, and the later development of Historical and Stratigraphical Geology in Britain.
Great Britain includes but a small part of the earth’s surface as compared with some other countries, but how many sides of geology are represented in its rocky structure, and how much of our knowledge of the science is due to workers within its borders!
Many years ago, under the guidance of Dr. Horne, I had the pleasure of seeing something of the pre-Cambrian geology of the Highlands of Scotland, and puzzled over the obscure problems of ancient schists and of the Moine Thrust in that foundation part of the earth’s crust; and more recently, under the skilful guidance of Professor Boswell, I walked along the shore cliffs of East Anglia and gained some idea of a wonderful section of the Pleistocene. The two ends of the geological record are inspiringly represented at these opposite sides of the country; and how much of the vast intervening history of the world is illustrated in Great Britain and has been made known by British geologists is shown by the great numbers of names of time divisions derived from British localities or British history. Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and Cretaceous—how much of historical Geology is included in these divisions due to British geologists!
In a walk diagonally across the island as many of the divisions of Stratigraphical Geology could be studied as in crossing Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The work of British geologists has been so successful and so important that one naturally expects to find the British Geological Survey and its collections housed in splendid quarters befitting its achievements; but anyone having occasion to visit the headquarters of the Survey in former years with this idea in his mind was quickly disillusioned.
By dint of asking policeman after policeman he found himself at last on Jermyn Street in front of an indistinguished looking building, wedged in between other buildings of small account, in the heart of the roaring traffic of business London.
Having entered the Survey building, the collections, of great historic interest and value, were crowded for space in small and unsuitable rooms, often poorly lighted, giving a most unfavourable impression to the visitor.
On behalf of the Royal Ontario Museum of Geology and of the Royal Ontario Museum of Palaeontology I offer hearty congratulations to Sir John Flett and his able staff, and also to British geologists in general, on the opening of this splendid new home for the Geological Survey and its valuable collections.

Dr. Edward B. Mathews, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Director of the Geological Survey of Maryland, said:

Lord Rutherford, it is an esteemed privilege to be the bearer of the hearty good wishes and felicitations of some forty Geological Surveys, large and small, in the United States and to be the representative of a State Geological Survey which began its inconspicuous work the same year that marks the inauguration of your own well-known organization.
When these initial steps were taken, the geologists of the day scarcely knew what they were undertaking. Some were interested in the development of mineral deposits, making areal maps of geological formations, locating underground water supplies, and other practical applications of geology; a smaller number were interested in the newly awakened science; and a few felt the urge to instruct the general public.
Similar differences are noticeable in the Geological Surveys of to-day. Some, with great benefit, emphasize the development of natural resources and the improvement in the technique of their recovery and utilization; a few less conspicuously emphasize the underlying principles of the science of Geology and some devote their energies to the development of museums and lecture courses for the instruction of the public.
You, Sir, were fortunate in your scientific ancestors, for they saw clearly the wisdom of combining all three—development of natural resources, contributing to the growth of the science, and disseminating the results of their studies for the enrichment and edification of the Public.
By the even-handed manner in which your organization has carried on these three essential functions, it has been a guide and example to all the Geological Surveys of the world, which unite to-day in expressions of gratitude.
May I, as the representative of the Geologists of the United States, express to you the well-founded hope that under your inspiration the Director of the Survey and his efficient staff, with the increased opportunities presented by their beautiful and well-equipped building, and the enthusiastic support of the many non-professional geologists of Great Britain, may attain the highest realization of the ideals which are now cherished, and extend to you hearty felicitations on the completion of a hundred years of efficient work and the entrance upon the second century in such inspiring material surroundings.

Professor E. de Margerie, Paris, formerly Director of the Geological Survey of Alsace and Lorraine, said:

I have been asked to say a few words on behalf of several French organizations, the Service de la Carte géologique de la France—that is, the equivalent of the Geological Survey of Great Britain—the Société Géologique de France, the Académie des Sciences and a few other official or private Institutions, including the Geological Surveys of Algeria and of French Indo-China, the Société Géologique du Nord, the principal Universities of France and, finally, the Commission of the International Geological Map of Africa.
May I be allowed to enlarge my task and to stand here in the name of all the French-speaking geologists who are present here to-day, whether they may happen to be my fellow-citizens, or else representatives from Belgium or Switzerland?
All of them, just as much as I do myself, have deep feelings of reverence towards the venerable Institution which remains as the direct ancestor and prototype of every other Geological Survey now operating anywhere on the surface of the globe: its progressive growth, the wise administration of its able Directors, the fullness of the records accumulated in a graphic or written form through a century of incessant activity are some of the features which strike at the very first moment the student of its past history.
And our gratitude goes hand in hand with our admiration: a liberal policy in matters of publication and distribution, free access generously allowed to the priceless series of specimens stored in that famous Museum of Practical Geology which now appears to our eyes, entirely rebuilt according to the latest and most convenient plans—those tangible facts are due not only to the energy and devotion of the corps of men engaged in the professional work of the Survey, but also to the proper financial support of the various Departments of the British Government, under the authority of which its members have been successively called to live.
If time permitted, I would like to point out more particularly the special obligations under which we feel, in the French Survey, towards our British brethren. Our great predecessors, Élie de Beaumont, the friend of your founder, Sir Henry Thomas De la Beche, and his companion, Dufrenoy, took their first instruction in methods of field work from their colleagues on this side of the Channel; and it is only after they had spent a few seasons in England to see how the local Surveyors were operating on the ground that the preparation of a Geological Map of France and its publication at the cost of the State were decided.
Many years elapsed afterwards before a formal Survey could be organized—that happened about the time of the International Exhibition at Paris in 1867. Élie de Beaumont was still at the head of the movement, and he did not fail to refer, as the very model he proposed to follow, to the fine maps produced by another of his friends, Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, the genial author of ‘The Silurian System’ and the immediate successor of De la Beche.
Personal contacts have never failed since between the staffs of both Surveys. It was for me a great privilege, indeed, to accompany, in 1892, Marcel Bertrand—then at the acme of his scientific career—in the North-western Highlands of Scotland, to study the structure of that classic territory under the guidance of Peach and Horne, the two men who have probably given, together with their colleague Clough, the finest piece of geological mapping which has been produced, anywhere and at any time, since the Art of Cartography has been in existence.
I would like to refer also to another ‘Chef d’œuvre’—the mapping of the Tertiary Volcanoes of the Hebrides by Professor Harker, Professor Bailey and their associates. But it would be unjust to omit older tasks, fulfilled to the satisfaction both of Science and of Practice, such as the study of North Wales under Sir A. C. Ramsay in the sixties, the detailed mapping of the coalfields on the scale of six miles to 1 inch, or the Survey of the Weald and of the adjacent flexures in the Isles of Wight and of Purbeck.
Now, if geologists on the Continent owe a great deal to the teaching of the British Survey, it is not untrue, perhaps, that, on certain occasions, a new light came here .from the mainland of Europe—remember the illuminating paper by Charles Lapworth on ‘The Secret of the Highlands,’ which took its main inspiration from the Alps and especially from the magnificent work of my beloved master, Professor Albert Heim.
It fell to my lot, more than once, to meet one of your great Directors, Sir Archibald Geikie, who was very popular in France, especially among his colleagues of the ‘Institut,’ and whose charming Autobiography is so full of details on the evolution of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. It was under Sir Archibald’s personal influence that these new methods came to be adopted in official circles here, particularly in Scotland. One of the main results of this action was that wonderful Report on the geology of the North-west Highlands, which remains as a standing monument of the industry of that enthusiastic band of surveyors having Peach and Horne at their head.
In their turn, the thoroughness and precision of the Geological Maps produced officially in Great Britain have contributed to raise to a higher standard the style of Alpine cartography: I have no doubt, at least, that the work of my friends Professor Lugeon, Professor Argand and Professor Collet, in Switzerland, owes something to British tradition; and I am quite sure, too, that the same is true among the Hercynian folds of Belgium, for the tracings which Professor Renier and his staff are elaborating there.
Now, I must conclude. Let me express our hopes for the future prosperity of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Long life and good success to Sir John Flett, in whose able hands the interests of that glorious organization are now concentrated.

Professor Dr. W. von Seidlitz, Director of the Preussische Geologische Landesanstast, Berlin, said:

Meine Damen und Herren:
Als Vertreter der deutschen Geologen ist es mir eine besondere Ehre und Freude, den Geologen Englands und dem Jubilar der Geological Survey of Great Britain, zum heutigen Erinnerungstage Grüsse und Glückwiinsche zu überbringen. Ganz besonders gern tue ich dies als Leiter der Preussischen Geologischen Landesanstalt und im Namen der anderen deutschen Geologischen Landestanstalten, die sich demnächst zu gemeinsamer Arbeit zusanimenschliessen werden. Ihnen schliessen sich an die deutschen Hochschule und ihre geologischen und mineralogischen Institute.
Für mich und meine deutschen Fachgenossen, die heute nach London gekommen sind, besteht aber auch die Pflicht, die Glückwiinsche der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaften und der ihnen nahverwandten Vereine auszusprechen, so der Geologischen Gesellschaft, der Geologischen Vereinigung, der Deutschen Mineralogischen Gesellschaft, der Palaontologischen Gesellschaft und der Geophysikalischen Gesellschaft, die teilweise auch ihre eigenen Vertreter entsandten und mich beauftragten, in ihrem Namen zu gratulieren.
Weun wir auf das verfiossene Jahrhundert zurückblicken, so wird jeder Geologe gestehen dürfen, dass wir in der Zwischenzeit manche Fortschritte gemacht und veile Meinungen sich geklärt haben. Vielleicht werden unsere Urenkel nach weiteren 100 Jahren diese Meinung überheblich finden. Wir können aber immerhin feststellen, dass in dieser Zeit die Auffassungen vom Bau der Erde und ihrer Gesetze, von der Gliederung der Schichten, die ihre Oberfluiche zusammensetzen, und die systematische und biologische Efforschung der fossilen Lebewesen, die das Alter dieser Schichten bestimmen, einen bedeutsamen Wandel durchgemacht haben, der uns jetzt befähigt, diese Kenntnisse zur Grundlage weiterer Studien und praktischer Fragen zu machen. Nicht ohne Grund erinnern wir uns daran, dass wir einen erheblichen Teil dieser im vergangenen Jahrhundert gewonnenen Erkenntnisse englischen Fachgenossen danken, mit denen uns von jeher engste wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft und Freundschaft verband. Zwar haben bei uns Abraham Gottlob Werner, Leopold von Buch und Alexander von Humboldt damals gleichfalls selbstäindige Wege beschritten und am Aufbau der Fundamente der Geologie gearbeitet; es hat auch an wechselseitiger Anregung nicht gefehlt, wie die Werke von Karl Ernst Adolf von Hoff und Charles Lyell zeigen; auch auf anderen Gebieten der Geologie haben wir bis in die neueste Zeit hinein tiefe und unauslöschliche Eindrücke von der englischen Geologie empfangen. Schon aus der Zeit vor Gründung der Geological Society und der Geological Survey möchte ich die Namen von James Hutton und rein ‘System of the Earth’ und William Smith und die Begründung farbiger geologischer Karten und die systematische Aufeinanderfolge der Formationen und der Leitfossilien erwähnen. Unser Dichter Johann Wolfgang Goethe, der auch em guter Naturbeobachter und -Forscher war, hat wohl etwa zur gleichen Zeit von dem Wert der Fossilien gesprochen, die die einzelnen Schichten bestimmen, und auch schon angeregt, die gleichartigen Schichten auf den Karten mit gleichen Farben zu bezeichnen; den einschneidenden praktischen Fortschritt aber verdanken wir William Smith.
Vor hundert Jahren stand nicht nur England unter dem Bann von Charles Lyell, dessen Werke jahrzehntelang bei uns ebenso führend waren wie bei ihnen, wern auch seine deutschen Zeitgenossen Leopold von Buch und Alexander von Humboldt, die gleich ihm ihre Kenntnisse der Erde als unabhängige Männer auf weiten Reisen und in femen Ländern erworben hatten, zum Teil andere Auffassungen über dynamische Gesetze der Geologie vertraten. Damals war auch der Zeitpunkt gekommen, das theoretische Gewonnene praktisch anzuwenden. Die englischen Geologen übernahmen darn die Führung. Ebenso wie die Geological Society of London fast 40 Jahre vor der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft aus der Taufe gehoben wurde, so wurde auch die Geological Survey fast 40 Jahre vor den gleichen Anstasten in Deutschland begründet, und ihre Leiter und Führer waren wiederum Männer, die weit über ihr Vaterland hinaus Westgestung besassen. In Henry De la Beche, der mit ungeheurer Energie die geologische Kartendarstellung förderte und ausbaute, verehren wir denjenigen, der die dynamische Geologie in eine Form brachte, wie sie auch unsere Lehrbücher heute noch kennen. Roderick Murchison war bahnbrechend als Kenner des Paläozoikums, und wir in Deutschland verdanken ihm an wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis fast so viel wie sein eigenes Vaterland. Was seit Werner noch als Grauwackenformation galt, erhielt erst durch ihn System und Leben. Die Ehrentitel, die zu seiner Erinnerung mit wichtigen Leitfossilien und Leitschichten verbunden sind, wenn wir von Am. Murchisoni oder von Murchisonschichten usw. sprechen, sind schon dem jüngsten Studenten in Deutschland vertraut, wenn vielleicht auch nicht jeder von ihnen etwas von dem grossen englischen Geologen weiss. Auch Andrew Crombie Ramsay und Archibald Geikie sind uns durch ihre Aufnahmen Schottlands und ihre Glazialstudien vertraut, und Geikies Einfuhrungen in die Geologie gehörten mit zu den ersten allgemeinverstäindlichen Werken liber Geologie, die auch von einem grösseren Publikum in Deutschland gelesen wurden.
Wie diese wenigen Beispiele grosser Forscher unseres Faches aus dem vorigen Jahrhundert zeigen, sind es vielseitige Verbindungen, die unter den Geologen Englands und Deutschlands gepflogen wurden und diese von jeher verbanden. Und als in den siebziger Jahren des vorigen Jahrhunderts Ernst Beyrich und Hermann Credner daran gingen, geologische Landesanstalten in Deutschland zu begründen, konnten sie die reichen Erfahrungen verwerten, die während eines Jahrhunderts geologischer Forschung im regen Gedankenaustausch zwischen den führenden Fachleuten nicht nur ihrer eigenen Heimat, sondern vor allem auch der übrigen europaischen Länder gesammest worden waren. Es liegt in der Natur der geologischen Forschung, dass sie nie an Landesgrenzen gebunden bleiben kann und daher die Völker und die Wissenschaft über die Grenzen hinaus verbindet. Daher freuen wir uns, an dem heutigen Feiertag auch derer zu gedenken, die im vergangenen Jahrhundert—vor allem in England—diese Zusammenarbeit gefördert und ermöglicht haben und so die Grundlagen schufen, auf denen wir heute weiterbauen. Dies gist sowohl für die reine geologische Forschung wie fur die praktische Geologie, in deren neuem, schönem Heim wir gestern standen. Die Anregungen, die wir von hier mitnehmen, werden dazu beitragen, gerade die angewandte und praktische Geologie auch weiter zu fördern und auszubauen, so wie vor 100 Jahren die Gründung der Geological Survey of Great Britain wegweisend war für die Ausgestastung dieses Forschungszweiges und aller späteren geologischen Landesanstasten. Damit verbinde ich die Wünsche der deutschen Geologen, dass die wissenschaftlichen Beziehungen zu den Geologen Englands auch im kommenden Jahrhundert ebenso freundschaftlich und wissenschaftlich ergebnisreich sein mögen wie im vergangenen. Dieses bekrüftige ich dadurch, dass ich der Geological Survey of Great Britain für ihre künftigen Aufgaben und Ziele den asten deutschen Bergmannsgruss ‘ Glückauf’ zurufe!

Professor W. W. Watts, F.R.S., Imperial College of Science and Technology and Royal School of Mines, President of the British Association, after referring to his previous connexion with the Geological Survey and the Royal School of Mines, and speaking as the representative of the British Association, addressed himself to the geological excursions arranged for the Delegates attending the gathering: The Isle of Wight, a pocket edition of later British geology, revealed by the work of Forbes and Bristow, of Strahan and Reid, and recalling Lyell’s long-standing classification of the Tertiary Rocks: the Weald, de Lapparent’s link with France and Europe, illuminated by the famous memoir of Topley and Foster, the foundation of the ‘new geography,’ by Lamplugh and Kitchin, and now by the Weald Committee of the Geologists’ Association: South Wales and Bristol, recalling the labours of Logan and Ramsay, Strahan and Thomas, and of Marr, Roberts, Hicks, and Arthur Vaughan: and Edinburgh, rendered classical by Hutton and Playfair and their worthy followers, Peach, Horne, Clough and the Geikies.

The voluntary work of De la Beche a century ago, ‘to affix geological colours to the new ordnance maps of Devon and Cornwall,’ involving his personal survey of over 4000 square miles of country, was followed in 1835 by a definite appointment which constituted the birth of the Geological Survey.

To provide training for surveyors of the mineral resources of the country, and for miners and metallurgists to make use of them, the School of Mines was founded in close association with the Survey, and, with the cordial support and wise patronage of the Prince Consort, pioneer of scientific and technical education in the country, whose liberal views and wide outlook it had taken three generations completely to fulfil. His monument was not only to be seen in the roads and buildings at South Kensington, but in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Imperial College and Geological Survey, and in the splendid work for science, education and research accomplished by the Royal Commission of the 1851 Exhibition, financed by the Prince Consort’s clear vision and financial acumen.

Reference was made to the geological mapping, carried out on maps on inadequate scales and obscured by hill-shading, by such pioneers as Ramsay, Aveline, Selwyn, and Jukes, whose lines still stand and will always stand, and to the later and more detailed work on adequate scales by workers like Clough, Peach, Horne and Barrow. The classical memoirs of Ramsay on North Wales, Judd on Rutland, Topley on the Weald, Whitaker on London, those on the great coalfields, on the Scottish Highlands and Uplands and on the Isle of Man, had been followed in later years by such works as those on the Inner Hebrides, on Coal and Coalfields and on Water and Mineral Resources.

The Museum, fulfilling the vision of De la Beche, had moved from Craig’s Court in 1841 to Jermyn Street in 1851, and now had found a real home in the glorious building whose inauguration was now being celebrated. The necessity for moving the teaching of the School Mines from Jermyn Street, slowly brought about in the ‘seventies and ‘eighties, was a painful but necessary operation, or growth would have been inhibited: but it had resulted in three great institutions instead of one at Kensington, the Museum and Survey, the Science Library, and the Imperial College; and by none of them was the revived proximity more cordially welcomed than by the Imperial College, in the soul of which was the Royal School of Mines.

The speaker wished to record his recollection of service upon the Advisory Board of the Survey, when he saw and appreciated the patient, persistent, uncompromising, and most efficient insistence of Sir Francis Ogilvie, Chairman for very many years, that a new Museum was vitally necessary and must be built. Unhappily, he had not lived to see the accomplishment of the great object to which he consecrated the last years of his life, and for which he thought, planned, and worked for a quarter of a century. When we think of De la Beche’s Museum of Practical Geology we must always couple the name of Ogilvie with its apotheosis at Kensington.

Finally, the speaker made reference to the large number of Chairs of Geology in Britain which had been filled by men trained in the field work and the laboratories of the Geological Survey, and he pleaded for the continuous development of the training of men possessed of the geologist’s greatest asset, an’ eye for a country,’ to observe, record, and reason, in days of the glorification of experiment, upon the experiments, grander in scale and in time, carried out by Nature herself. This brought the proceedings to a termination.

After the Centenary Meeting a group photograph was taken at the north-east corner of the Museum of Practical Geology.

For the entertainment of the delegates and guests a number of social functions was provided. The Geological Society of London gave a reception on the evening of 3rd July in its rooms and the rooms of the Royal Society at Burlington House, Piccadilly. The guests were received by the President, Mr. J. F. N. Green, and a very extensive series of exhibits was regarded with much attention and interest. On the evening of 4th July the foreign delegates were entertained at dinner in the Rembrandt Hotel, Brompton Road, by the members of the Geological Society Dining Club and by the staff of the Geological Survey. Over two hundred were present, and the principal toast of the evening, ‘Our Guests,’ was proposed by the Chairman, Sir John Flett, and responded to by Dr. Arthur L. Day, Director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Vice-President of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Thereafter a reception was given by H.M. Government in Lancaster House and the guests were received by the Right Honourable W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore and Lady Beatrice Ormsby-Gore.

A programme of excursions had been drawn up by the Geological Survey to certain districts of Great Britain which were of exceptional interest to geologists, and on the day after the Celebrations a start was made. Each excursion lasted for a week, and as the weather was very fine the programmes were carried out under the most favourable conditions and were much enjoyed by all participants.

South Wales and Bristol Excursion: Leaders, Dr. John Pringle and Mr. E. E. L. Dixon. The following took part

Buxtorf, Professor A Basel.
Coleman, Professor A. P., F.R.S Toronto.
Davies, Dr. K. A. Uganda.
Dingwall, Miss J. M. M. Cardiff.
Evans, Mr. Percy India.
Fearnsides, Professor W. G. Sheffield.
Fedorovsky, Professor N. Moscow.
Haughton, Dr. S. H. Pretoria.
Heard, Dr. A. Cardiff.
Hudson, Dr. R. G. S. Leeds.
Hume, Dr. W. F. Cairo.
Hume, Mrs. W. F. Cairo.
Jones, Professor O. T. Cambridge.
Jones, Mr. W. D. V. Cambridge.
Kettner, Professor R. Prague.
Laitakari, Dr. A. Finland.
Legoux, M. Pierre French West Africa.
Moore, Professor Raymond C. Kansas.
Oswald, Dr. Felix Nottingham.
Pugh, Professor W. J. Manchester.
Temperley, Dr. B. Gateshead, Co. Durham.
Trechmann, Dr. C. T. Castle Eden, Co. Durham.
White, Dr. E. I. London.

Isle of Wight Excursion: Leaders, Mr. C. P. Chatwin and Mr. F. W. Anderson. The following took part

Copel, M. St. Etienne.
Cox, Mr. L. R. London.
Davis, Mr. A. G. London.
Davison, Mr. A. H. Belfast.
De Riaz, Mme. Lyon.
Erdtman, Dr. G. Stockholm.
Erdtman, Mme. Stockholm.
Goguel, M. Jean Paris.
Gordon, Professor W. T. London.
Halet, Professor F. Brussels.
Hendriks, Miss E. M. L. Cornwall.
Hirmer, Professor Max Munich.
Hobley, Mr. C. W. London.
Hobley, Mrs. London.
Johnston, Miss M. S. London.
Le Grand, Mr. J. P. London.
Le Grand, Mrs. London.
Legraye, Professor M. P. H. Liège.
Loczy de Locz, Professor Lajos Buda-Pest.
Loczy de Locz, Mme Buda-Pest.
O’Gorman, Count Pau.
Roman, Professor F. Lyon.
Roman, Mm.. Lyon.
Royo y Gomez, Professor J. Madrid.
Spencer, Dr. L. J. London.

Edinburgh and the Forth Valley Excursion: Leaders, Dr. J. E. Richey and Mr. A. G. MacGregor. The following took part

Anderson, Dr. E. M. Edinburgh.
Balsillie, Mr. D. Edinburgh.
Bertrand, Professor Leon Paris.
Bertrand, Mine. Paris.
Campbell, Dr. R. Algiers.
Crema, Dr. Camillo Edinburgh.
Crookshank, Mr. H. Rome.
Day, Dr. Arthur L. India.
Day, Mrs. Washington.
Fourmarier, Professor P. Washington.
Guigue, Mlle. Liège.
Hadding, Professor A. Algiers.
Kuenen, Dr. Ph. H. Lund.
Lutaud, Professor L. Groningen.
Macgregor, Dr. Murray Paris.
Mathews, Professor E. B. Edinburgh.
Mathews, Mrs. Baltimore.
Orti, Seňor Carlos Baltimore.
Phemister, Dr. J. Madrid.
Renier, Professor A. Edinburgh.
Richards, Professor H. C. Brussels.
Robertson, Dr. T. Brisbane.
Tait, Mr. David Edinburgh.
Tomkeieff, Mr. S. I. Edinburgh.