306 Geological Society : Anniversary Address of the 



cations by many of its Members, including myself, bear further tes- 

 timony to the importance of your labours, in illustrating our works 

 with drawings and engravings of fossil shells and plants, expressing 

 their characters with a degree of accuracy and truth, which no pencil 

 or burine but those of a scientific artist could possibly accomplish ; 

 and I am sure I give utterance to the feelings of all our fellows now 

 around me, when I thus publicly acknowledge the services you have 

 rendered both to ourselves, and to the science we cultivate ; and ex- 

 press the satisfaction with which we thus publicly recognise the va- 

 lue of your exertions. 



Mr. Sowerby then expressed himself in the following terms : 

 SIR, 



I hardly know what to say, so deeply do I feel the unexpected 

 and kind award bestowed upon me by this Society, but I must as- 

 sure you, that I am extremely grateful for the honour done me. 

 When, Sir, you spoke of my father, you excited feelings most dear to 

 me, and I have long felt that I have experienced more consideration 

 than I have deserved, in consequence of the esteem that has ever 

 been attached to his memory. But I ^must have been a most un- 

 grateful son had I not, after his persevering and kind instructions, 

 done something for the advancement of Natural History. What 

 little I have performed, especially for Members of this Society, has 

 been for the love of Science ; and I feel far more than amply re- 

 warded by the honourable present I have just received at your 

 hands. You have stated, Sir, that you take a pleasure in associating 

 the name of Wollaston with that of Sowerby ; I shall never forget 

 the kindness and patience with which Dr. Wollaston communicated 

 information. When the reflective goniometer was first completed by 

 him, he spent several hours one morning with me in his study mea- 

 suring the cleavages of various minerals related to hornblende and 

 augite which I took to him for his opinion ; and at another time 

 he indulged me with an equally long lesson on the chemical exami- 

 nation of minute portions of minerals. Little did I think at that 

 time that I should ever share encouragement continued by his 

 bounty, after his departure from this world ; but I have lived to feel 

 that his benevolence lives beyond the grave. 



Sir, I receive this award as a trust reposed in me, and hope that 

 I shall not be found wanting in carrying out the object the Council 

 has in view. 



I beg sincerely to thank the Society for the confidence placed in me. 



The following Fellows were declared to have been elected the 

 Officers and Council for the ensuing year. 



President. Rev. W. Buckland, D.D. Professor of Geology and 

 Mineralogy in the University of Oxford. 



Vice- Presidents. G. B. Greenough, Esq. F.R.S. & L.S. ; Leo- 

 nard Homer, Esq. F.R.S. L. & E. ; Sir Woodbine Parish, K.C.H. 

 F.R.S. ; Rev. William Whewell, B.D. F.R.S. Professor of Casuistry 

 in the University of Cambridge. 



Secretaries. Charles Darwin, Esq. F.R.S. ; William John Ha- 

 milton, Esq. 



