V 



32 Adjudication of the Wollaston Medal. 



have long become engrafted into the conventional language of 

 English geologists, and through their influence, in part, also 

 adopted by the naturalists of the continent. 



" After such a statement, gentlemen, I have a right to speak 

 boldly, and to demand your approbation of the council's avi^ard. 

 I could almost dare to wish, that stern lover of truth, to whose 

 bounty we owe the " donation fund" — that dark eye, before the 

 glance of which all false pretensions withered, were once more 

 amongst us. And if it be denied us to hope, that a spirit like 

 that of Wollaston should often be embodied on the earth, I would 

 appeal to those intelligent men who form the strength and orna- 

 ment of this society, whether there was any place for doubt or 

 hesitation ? Whether we were not compelled, by every motive 

 which the judgment can approve, and the heart can sanction, to 

 perform this act of filial duty, before we thought of the claims of 

 any other man, and to place our first honour on the brow of the 

 father of English geology. 



" If, in the pride of our present strength, we were disposed to 

 forget our origin, our very speech would bewray us ; for we use 

 the language which he taught us in the infancy of our science. 

 If we, by our united efforts, are chisseling the ornaments, and 

 slowly raising up the pinnacles of one of the temples of nature, 

 it was he that gave the plan, and laid the foundations, and erected 

 a portion of the solid walls, by the unassisted labour of his hands. 



" The men who have led the way in useful discoveries, have 

 ever held the first place of honour in the estimation of all, who, 

 in aftertimes, have understood their works, or trodden in their 

 steps. It is upon this abiding principle that we have acted ; and 

 in awarding our first prize to Mr. Smith, we believe that we 

 have done honour to our own body, and are sanctioned by the 

 highest feelings which bind societies together." 



We now quote the following passage from article XIII. of the 

 Edinburgh Journal of Science, as furnishing the complete refuta- 

 tion of the general censure intended by it. "When a philosopher, 

 however, carries on his inquiries by the sacrifice of a half, oi 

 even a third of his whole professional income, and when this loss 

 is increased by the purchase of expensive apparatus ; the acqui- 

 sition of a pecuniary reward cannot be unwelcome, independent 

 of the honour with which it is accompanied. Upon this principle, 

 prizes should always be adjudged to the person who really 

 deserves them," &-c. »i.c. 



