[AA] Presidential Address to the Geological Section of the British Association, Newcastle, 1889. THE President of this section must often have some difficulty in selecting a subject for his address. It is no longer possible to give an interesting and instructive summary of the work done by the devotees of our science during even one year. So numerous have the students of geological science become--so fertile are the fields they cultivate--so abundant the harvests they reap, that one in my present position may well despair of being able to take stock of the numerous additions to our knowledge which have accumulated within the last twelve months. Neither is there any burning question which at this time your President need feel called upon to discuss. True, there are controversies that are likely to remain unsettled for years to come--there are still not a few matters upon which we must agree to differ--we do not yet see eye to eye in all things geological. But experience has shown that as years advance truth is gradually evolved, and old controversies die out, and so doubtless it will continue to be. The day when controversies shall cease, however, is yet, I hope, far in the future; for should that dull and unhappy time ever arrive, it is quite certain that mineralogists, petrologists, palæontologists, and geologists shall have died out of the world. Following the example of many of my predecessors, I shall confine my remarks to certain questions in which I have been specially interested; and in doing so I shall endeavour to steer clear, as far as I can, of controversial matters. My purpose, then, is to give an outline of some of the results obtained during the last few years by Continental workers in the domain of glacial geology.