178 Reports and Proceedings— 
to Mr. Edward Wilson, F.G.S., the President addressed him as 
follows:— 
Dr. Woodward,—The Council of this Society, being desirous of marking their 
sense of the oreat value of Mr. Edward Wilson’s geological investigations, have 
awarded to him the Balance of the Murchison Fund for the present year. Both at 
Nottingham and at Bristol Mr. Wilson has shown his ability as a careful observer and 
trustworthy exponent of the stratigraphy of the surrounding country ; and itis our 
hope that this award may afford him both encouragement and assistance in continuing 
those important researches in fields of study where he has already laboured with such 
devotion and success. 
Dr. Woopwarp, in reply, said:—Mr. President,—Mr. Edward Wilson is, I am 
happy to say, only one out of a large number of local geologists (many of whom are 
Fellows of this Society) all doing good work and all deserving of recognition, were 
it possible to extend to many more the same expression of approbation of their labours. 
Such assistance affords to them facilities for travel or for the acquisition of books for 
carrying on their work. 
These are only a few of the trivial advantages ; but the highest of ail is the sense 
of recognition which this Society’s Award gives "to such solitary workers, who are 
often without any local support or encouragement for their efforts. Mr. Edward 
Wilson’s published work dates back to 1868, and is represented by more than 12 
papers, dealing mostly with the Red Marls, Keuper and Bunter Beds, the Rhetic and 
the Lias, one of his latest papers being on the Liassic Gasteropoda with descriptions 
and figures of 14 species. 
Dr. Woodward further read the following communication from Mr. Wilson :— 
“ Will you kindly convey to the President and Council my grateful sense of the 
honour which they have conferred upon me? At the same time would you please 
express my regret at not being able to be present on this occasion ? 
‘Notwithstanding the progress which has been made in our knowledge of the 
late Palaeozoic and early Secondary Rocks, since the illustrious Murchison established 
his Permian system, now nearly fifty years ago, a great deal remains to be accom- 
plished in this special department of British geology. In several districts the true 
ages of the “‘ Red Rocks’’—whether Permian, or ‘Trias, or Carboniferous, or even 
Old Red Sandstone—have yet to be determined. Of the many other interesting 
matters relating to these rocks which require further elucidation, one of the most im- 
portant perhaps is the question of the extension of the older rocks, and in particular 
of productive Coal-measures, beneath the newer formations. In the above field of 
Geology, then, there is scope for plenty of good work in the future, and it is in this 
field that my hig hest ambition would be to contribute some useful result.’ 
In presenting the Lyell Medal to Prof. H. Alleyne Nicholson, 
M.D., F.G.S., the President addressed him as follows :— 
Prof. Nicholson,—The Lyell Medal has been awarded to you as a mark of appre- 
ciation of your valuable researches among the older Paleeozoic rocks, both in the Old 
and New World, and of your continued and patient investigations into the organiza- 
tion of some of the obscurer forms of life which abounded at the period of the 
deposition of those rocks. Your researches among the Graptolitide, the Stromato- 
poride, the Monticuliporide, and the Tabulate Corals have given you a high place 
among paleontologists; while the difficulties which surround such studies as those 
you have undertaken are so great that geologists may well feel admiration for the 
courage and perseverance which you have shown in steadily devoting yourself to the 
study of such seemingly unpromising materials. The bequest of Lyell could certainly 
not be more appropriately bestowed than in recognition of labours like your own, 
which have been especially directed to a comparison of the fossil faunas of Britain 
and North America. 
Prof. NicHoxson, in reply, said :—Mr. President,—It would not be easy for me 
to adequately express my grateful sense of the very high honour which has been 
conferred upon me by the Council and Fellows of the Society i in awarding to me the 
Lyell Medal. In common with all British workers, I regard the Geological Society 
of London as the supreme head and source of honour in matters connected with 
Geology and Paleontology. Under any circumstances, therefore, I should have 
deeply ‘valued the distinction which I have to-day received, the more so that it is 
