SIR ARCHIBALD GEIKIE STRAHAN 597 



form Oil some research that he had taken up for the purposes of an 

 address. Masterly and elegantly phrased as his lectures were, they 

 never failed to interest ; but in delivering them he was not the equal 

 of many a far less able man in rousing enthusiasm in his audience. 



His retirement from the Geological Survey in 1901 enabled him to 

 increase his other activities. He had been elected to the Koyal 

 Society in 1865, had served twice on the council, and had held the 

 posts of vice president in 1885-1887, and of foreign secretary in 

 1889-1893. After his retirement he served as secretary in 1903-1908 

 and was president in 1908-1912. In 1912 the society celebrated its 

 two hundred and fiftieth anniversay, and it fell to Geikie to receive 

 an unexampled gathering of distinguished men of science from all 

 parts of the world, and to preside at the various functions. During 

 this period of his life he wrote six or more books, besides bringing 

 out new editions of his Advanced Textbook and several others. He 

 had served on several departmental committees and on Royal Com- 

 missions; at the age of 85 he was appointed chairman of the Royal 

 Commission on Trinity College, Dublin. 



The eminence attained by Geikie in science and letters was ac- 

 Imowledged by the bestowal of honors from all parts of the world. 

 Space will admit of the mention of those only that he most valued. 

 By our own society he Avas awarded the Murchison and WoUaston 

 medals, by the Royal Society a Royal medal, and from the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh he twice received the Macdougal- Brisbane 

 medal. He was also the Hayden gold medallist of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, the Livingstone gold medallist of the 

 Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and the gold medallist of the 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. Honorary degrees were con- 

 ferred on him by the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, 

 Glasgow, St. Andrews, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leipzig, 

 Upsala, and Prague. He was an officer of the Legion of Honour and 

 honorary member of a great number of the leading scientific societies 

 at home and abroad. He was three times president of Section C of 

 the British Association, and w^as president of the association in 1892. 

 In 1910 his distinction in the world of letters was acknowledged by 

 an invitation to take the presidential chair of the Classical Associa- 

 tion. He was a trustee of the British Museum and a governor of 

 Harrow School. In 1891 he was knighted, and in 1907 created a 

 K. C. B, In 1913 he received the crowning honor of his life, the 

 Order of Merit. 



This crowded life closed peacefully on November 10, 1924. To- 

 ward the end gradually failing strength prohibited him from leaving 

 the home that he had made at Halsemere, but his mind remained 



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