182 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of Lo)idon. 



Canada," etc., have done much to clear up the difficulties of the correlation of these 

 formations with those of other countries. Neither must we forget the many papers- 

 in which you, with fulness of knowledge and great depth of sympathy, have laid 

 before geologists and the public the lives and labours of those great pioneers who 

 have accumulated the vast store of knowledge which we now possess of the rocks and 

 fossils of the Dominion. 



As an old friend and correspondent of yours, I am very pleased that it has fallen 

 to my lot to hand you this Medal ; and I can assure you, on behalf of the Council 

 of the Geological Society of London, that it is a special gratification to them to award 

 it to one whose work has been done in the country of the founder of the Medal 

 himself, and among the rocks and fossils studied by him. 



Dr. Ami replied in tlie following words : — Mr. President, — 



I am deeply sensible of the great honour which the Council of this Society has^ 

 conferred upon me. Especially am I gratified in receiving this award at the hands of 

 one who has been so generous a counsellor and critic in matters geological for the 

 past eighteen years. Words fail me to express in adequate terms the gratitude which 

 tills me at present. Suffice it to say that, through the liberality of the Canadian 

 Government and courtesy of the Hon. the Minister of the Interior (Mr. Clifford 

 Sifton), Head of the Geological Survey Department at Ottawa, I have acceded to- 

 his wishes, and come over in person to receive at your hands the award so- 

 generously made. 



It is always a source of inspu'ation to come to London, the centre of thought, 

 the fountain-head of research, and radiator of power ; and, believe me, that, combined 

 with the pleasm-e and privilege of attending one of the anniversary meetings of this 

 Society, of which I have been a humble Fellow for some eighteen years, there 

 lurked in my miad the thought of gain in valuable information during my stay, 

 which I know will enable me all the better and more intelligently to carry out the 

 special work on the Silurian faunas and succession of Eastern Canada which has 

 been entrusted to me. 



That my name should become associated Avith that of the late Dr. Bigsby, founder 

 of the Medal, is a matter of which I have great reason to be proud. Bigsby was 

 a pioneer in British North American geology. It has been my lot and good fortune 

 recently to collect all the data relating to the geological history of the Grand 

 Manitoulin and adjacent islands of Palieozoic age in the Lake Huron district of 

 Canada, and it may not be uninteresting to state here that, when the unexpected 

 news of this award reached me in Ottawa, I had then completed, and on my desk,. 

 a sjTiopsis of Dr. Bigsby's geological explorations in that region during the early 

 years of the last century. 



In conclusion, permit me to add that I am deeply moved at this moment by the 

 thought of what the acceptance of the Bigsby Medal on my part involves. There 

 is undoubtedly associated with it a solemn pledge and obligation to prosecute 

 geological research-work still farther. If I am spared, Sir, it will be my highest 

 endeavom' as well as pleasure and privilege to follow in the footsteps of those 

 eminent geologists in the distinguished list of recipients of the Medal founded 

 through the generosity of the late Dr. Bigsby, and prove not uuAvorthy of the 

 marked distinction that the Council have conferred upon me this day. 



The President, in handing the Prestwich Medal, awarded to 

 John, Baron Avebury, P.O., F.R.S., to Professor T. G. Bonuey, D.Sc, 

 F.R.S., for transmission to the recipient, addressed him in the 

 following words : — Professor Bonney, — 



Sir John Lubbock, now the Eight Hon. Lord Avebury, P.O., 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 accompanied him and other Fellows of 

 the Society on geological excursions in France and elsewhere, investigating not only 

 the evidences of the antiquity of man, but other problems of special interest in geology.. 



