Award of the Wollaston Medal and Donation Fund. SiS 



fossils of South America, collected by his great countryman Hum- 

 boldt. Whilst I merely enumerate these works, I may be allowed 

 to say a few words respecting his last published volume, " On the 

 Fossils of Russia," because, together witli my associates, M. de Ver- 

 neuil and Count Keyserling, I have had the means of forming an 

 opinion of its value. Simply furnished with collections of organic 

 remains from various parts of the Russian empire, M. de Buch, 

 without ever visiting the country, assigned to each form he exa- 

 mined its position in the geological series. As the researches of my 

 friends and myself have confirmed, to a very remarkable extent, 

 the accuracy of the geological views of M. von Buch, drawn from 

 such sources only, you will surely agree with me, that this work 

 affords a most remarkable proof of the acumen of its author and of 

 the efficacy of organic remains in identifying distant strata. 



But, Gentlemen, I have already said more than enough to explain 

 the grounds of the award of the Medal to one of the leading charac- 

 ters of the age, and who has exercised a most powerful influence 

 on the present state of our science. The substantial claims of 

 Leopold von Buch are those of a profound and original thinker, and 

 of a most enterprising field geologist, who, casting new and broad 

 lights upon the history of the earth, has gloriously toiled throughout 

 life in our cause, and who, though loaded with the highest academic 

 honours, is continually putting forward fresh claims upon the admi- 

 ration and gratitude of his associates. 



In delivering the Wollaston Medal to the Foreign Secretary, the 

 President then said, — 

 Mk. De la Beche, 



I consign to you the Wollaston Medal awarded to M. von Buch, 

 requesting you to convey it to that eminent man. It was the inten- 

 tion of His Excellency the Prussian Minister, Chevalier Bunsen, to 

 have been present on this occasion ; and whilst we must all regret 

 that ill health alone has prevented so distinguished a man of letters 

 from honouring us with his presence, I rejoice that no geologist is 

 better qualified than yourself to be the medium of communication 

 with our great associate, for no one among us is more intimately ac- 

 quainted witli those researches of M. de Buch on which his chief 

 fame rests. Express to him, I beg, our heartiest wishes for the con- 

 tinuance of his good health, and that he may long live to call forth 

 from us proofs of the deep sense we entertain of the value of his 

 labours. 



IMr. De la Beche, on receiving the Medal, expressed the great 

 gratification it afforded him, that his office of Foreign Secretary 

 renderf;d him the chaimel through which the Wollaston Medal was 

 to bo transmitted to the distinguisjied geologist to whom it has this 

 year been awarded. Tin; works oi" Von Buch, he observed, are too 

 well known and appreciated to require notice ; they liave most ma- 

 terially assisted in the great advance which geology has made, and 

 recent publications have proved that his love of science was as ardent 

 as ever, and tluit the importance of the labours in whicii he was en- 

 gaged was undiminished. 



