Liy.VEAX SOCIETY OF LONDO:^. 1 9 



The Presidext, in presenting tlie Gold ]Medal of the Society 

 to Prof. Oliver, said : — 



It is now my exceedingly pleasing duty, acting on belialf of 

 tlie Society, to present, to that gentleman who has been con- 

 sidered by your Council a worthy recipient of the Gold Medal, 

 that most honourable distinction ; and. Professor Oliver, on 

 handing you the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society, it is my 

 pleasing duty to recall to the memory of the Fellows present your 

 many labours in Botany, which have more particularly induced 

 the Society to confer upon you this appreciation of your work. 

 First of all I would call attention to the very varied character of 

 your botanical work. In ISoO you discovered a species of y^ajas 

 in Ireland ; iu 1850 you published in our ' Transactions ' a paper 

 on the Structure of the Stem in certain Caryophyllece and Plum- 

 bagineoe, illustrated with plates drawn by yourself; and in lbt)2 

 you contributed to the ' Natural History Eeview ' a Memoir on 

 the Structure of the Stem in Dicotyledons, with a critical Biblio- 

 graphy of the subject. Tour series of eighteen papers in the 

 ' Journal ' and in the ' Transactions ' of tliis Society deal with 

 all branches of Botany ; several, including the whole of the 29th 

 volume of our ' Transactions ' with its plates, illustrate the Flora 

 of Africa ; you have paid detailed attention to the Olacinese, the 

 Hamamelidap, and other imperfectly understood Orders. Tour 

 artistic talents enabled you to illustrate these Memoirs beauti- 

 fully and accurately. The second point I would mention is the 

 liigh excellence of this work. The investigations of more recent 

 workers have confirmed the accuracy of your observations and 

 conclusions established in these memoirs, in Hooker's ' Icones 

 Plantarum,' which you have now edited for three years wholly 

 yourself, and elsewhere. Then also, in 1S62, when geologists 

 were discussing the Atlantis hypothesis, you showed in the 

 ' K^atural History Eeview ' that the Macaronesian Flora told 

 against the hypothesis, but that a close connection existed be- 

 tween the Flora of Macarouesia and that of temperate Xorth 

 America. The third point is that much of your work is, as yet, 

 unpublished ; it is enshrined iu the Kew Herbarium, where it 

 has been almost wholly prepared. The last point I need touch 

 upon is your educational works ; your ' Elementary Botany ' is 

 the most useful educational work we have, and has led many to 

 further study. Among the many successful pupils you have 

 trained as Professor of Botany for thirty years at University 

 College, London, not the least distinguished has been your 

 successor in the Professorial Chair. 



PEorEssoR Oliver. — I need hardly say that I am very deeply 

 sensible of the singular honour which you and the Council do 

 me. I should be very sorry to say any word which might savour 

 of criticism, or call in question the discretion of the Council, but 

 I may be allowed to say this, that I am very conscious that I am 

 sadly undeserving of this distinction. So far as my work is cou- 



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