174 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



early in the year, and for almost the whole of 

 November was laid up with a very stubborn 

 attack. But he never allowed this, more than 

 any other of these painful experiences, to affect 

 his cheerful serenity. 



He had a double satisfaction this year in 

 receiving from the Geological Society the first 

 of the gold medals recently cast in memory of 

 the late Sir Joseph Prestwich. That distin- 

 guished man of science had been a close friend 

 of Lord Avebury, and on account of that friend- 

 ship, as well as of the honour of being the first 

 to receive the medal, he was doubly gratified. 

 The following is the official account of the pre- 

 sentation in the Society's journal. 



The President, in handing the Prestwich Medal, 

 awarded to John, Baron Avebury, P.C, F.R.S., to 

 Professor T. G. Bonney, D.Sc., F.R.S., for transmission 

 to the recipient, addressed him in the following words : 



" Professor Bonney — Sir John Lubbock, now the 

 Right Honourable Lord Avebury, P.C, became a Fellow 

 of this Society in 1855. He was one of those who took 

 a warm interest in the question of the antiquity of man, 

 in those early days when it was so much in dispute. He 

 did much to support the new views, not only by a paper 

 in the Natural History Review, but also by his work on 

 Prehistoric Times, in which that paper was subsequently 

 incorporated. In those days he was closely associated 

 with Sir Joseph Prestwich (who at that time had not 

 yet been called to the professorial chair at Oxford), 

 and, along with Sir John Evans, frequently accom- 

 panied him and other Fellows of the Society on geo- 

 logical excursions in France and elsewhere, investigat- 

 ing not only the evidences of the antiquity of man, but 

 other problems of special interest in geology. 



" Since then, notwithstanding his numerous public 

 avocations, his important business occupations, and 

 his researches in natural history, both entomological 

 and botanical, he has always retained a lasting attach- 



