286 JOSEPH PEESTWICHj F.R.S.^ F.G.S.^ ON A POSSIBLE 



be followed up on both sides of the Atlantic, and will ultimately 

 afford a sure link of connection between the geological record and 

 the oldest historical documents of our s]3ecies." 



Dr. H. WoODWAKD, F.R.S., a visitor, Pi'esident of the Geologica 

 Society. — I have been asked to move a vote of thanks to Dr. 

 Prestwich. I am quite sure, sir, that no words of mine are needed to 

 express the feeling' which the name of Professor Prestwich must 

 awaken in the minds of all those jjresent. As a geologist he occupies 

 a unique position as the father of our science at the present time. 

 I have, when quite a boy, listened to him at the Geological Society, 

 and ever since I have been in London I have had the advantage 

 of his friendship and constant kindness. I cannot well find words 

 to express the warm feeling of regard that I have for Professor 

 Prestwich. As a worker he has, perhaps, done more than any other 

 man to bring our science into the first position as an applied science. 

 In his researches he has devoted himself especially to two subjects. 

 His eai'liest investigation was on the geology of Coalbrook-Dale, and 

 that, I presume, led to his taking a deep interest in all pre-existing 

 land surfaces. The old land surface of the Coal Period first 

 suggested to his mind the idea of working out a later exploration 

 of the Tertiary Period, and he has, in these later researches, 

 formulated an entirely new period of Geological History, viz., that 

 of the Quaternary Period. It is remarkable that through Professor 

 Prestwich's researches we have become, as it were, acquainted with 

 a new chapter in the geological record, a chapter which had entirely 

 escaped the attention of all the earlier geologists. He has spent 

 very many years in the investigation not only of the Ossiferous 

 caves and superficial deposits, the valley gravels and alluviums in 

 this country, but also in Prance and Belgium, and his papers in 

 the PJiilosojJhical TranHactions and geological journals teem with 

 matters of great im{)ortance on Quaternary Geology. His work 

 with regard to the erosion of river valleys is, perhaps, one of the 

 most important of his later investigations. He has shown that in 

 our valleys we have a series of terraces, one above the other, and 

 that, contrary to the ordinary way in which we reckon formations 

 (that the lowest is the oldest aud the highest the newest), the oldest 

 terraces are the highest, and represent the earliest conditions of 

 the land before the rivei's had cut their valleys down to their 

 present depth, so that we find the record of palaeolithic man high 



