2/0 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



of strata, and to determine their succession by 

 means of their imbedded fossils." 



The announcement of this award was made by a 

 congenial spirit. The chair of the Geological Society 

 was then filled by one of its most honoured members, 

 an original thinker and faithful observer, well quali- 

 fied to appreciate the originality of Mr. Smith's 

 discoveries, and well acquainted by actual research 

 with their extent and their value. In his address 

 on this occasion. Professor Sedgwick, speaking in 

 the name of the Geological Society, sketched a 

 brief but satisfactory history of Mr. Smith's career, 

 demonstrated the entire justice of the award of the 

 Council of the Geological Society, and added his 

 personal testimony in favour of Mr. Smith's claims 

 in terms of no ordinary value. 



" I for one can speak with gratitude of the 

 practical lessons I have received from Mr. Smith. 

 It was by tracking his footsteps, with his maps in 

 my hand, through Wiltshire and the neighbouring 

 counties, where he had trodden nearly thirty years 

 before, that I first learned the subdivisions of our 

 oolitic series, and apprehended the meaning of 

 those arbitrary and somewhat uncouth terms, which 

 we derive from him as our master, which have long 

 become engrafted into the conventional language 

 of English geologists, and through their influence 

 have been, 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 appro- 



