364 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vi. 



treatise on Mineralogy exhibits a like skill in arrangement and 

 knowledge in selection. In conveying this testimonial of the high 

 estiraationin which we hold his researches to Prof. Dana, may I beg 

 also that it may be accompanied by an expression how strongly we 

 feel that the bonds of friendship and brotherhood are connected 

 amongst all civilised nations of the world by the one common, the 

 one universal, and the one kindred pursuit of truth in the various 

 branches of science." — Mr. David Forbes, in reply, said that it 

 was to him a great pleasure to have, in the name of Prof. Dana, to 

 return thanks to the society for their highest honour, and for 

 this mark of the appreciation in which his labours are held in 

 England. It had rarely if ever occurred in the history of the 

 society that the Wollaston medal had been awarded to any geolo- 

 gist who had made himself so well known in such widely different 

 departments of the science, for not only was Prof. Dana pre- 

 eminent as a mineralogist, but his numerous memoirs on the 

 Crustaceans, Zoophytes, coral islands, volcanic formations, and 

 other allied subjects, as well as his admirable treatise on general 

 Geology, fully testify to the extensive range and great depth of 

 his scientific researches. — The President then presented the bal- 

 ance of the proceeds of the Wollaston donation fund to Prof. Ram- 

 say, F.R.S., for transmission to Mr. James Croll, and addressed 

 him as follows : — " The "Wollaston fund has been awarded to Mr. 

 James Croll, of Edinburgh, for his many valuable researches on 

 the glacial phenomena of Scotland, and to aid in the prosecution 

 of the same. Mr. Croll is also well known to all of us by his in- 

 vesti2;ation of oceanic currents and their bearinc:: on ofeolosfical 

 questions, and of many questions of great theoretical interest con- 

 nected with some of the great problems in Geology. Will you, 

 Prof. Ramsay, in handing this token of the interest with which 

 we follow his researches, inform Mr. Croll of the additional value 

 his labours have in our estimation, from the difficulties under 

 which they have been pursued, and the limited time and opportu- 

 nities he has had at his command." — Prof. Ramsay thanked the 

 president and council in the name of Mr. Croll for the honour 

 bestowed on him. He remarked that Mr. Croll's merits as an 

 original thinker are of a very high kind, and that he is all the more 

 deservino; of this honour from the circumstance that he has risen 

 to have a well-recognised place among men of science without any 

 of the advantages of early scientific training; and the position he 

 now occupies has been won by his own unassisted exertions. The 



