JReports and Proceedings — Geological Societij of London. 185 



In presenting the other moiety of the Balance of the Proceeds of 

 'the Lyell Geological Fund to Mr. Walcot Gibson, B.Sc, the 

 President addressed him as follows : — 



Mr. Walcot Gibson,— A moiety of the Balance of the Proceeds of the Lyell Geo- 

 logical Fund is awarded to you as an acknowledgment of the valuable work done by 

 you among the Carboniferous and other strata of the Midland counties, as well as 

 among the auriferous and associated rocks of South Africa, and as an encouragement 

 to fui-ther research. 



"While pursuing your calling as a Geological Surveyor, you have been ever on the 

 alert to utilize what has been written concerning the rocks which you mapped, and 

 also to record your own observations, with results beneficial alike to the Survey and 

 to the science. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, 

 giving first of all obituary notices of several Fellows deceased since 

 the last annual meeting, including General C. A. McMah(m (elected 

 a Fellow in 1878), Sir Clement Le Neve Foster (el. 1863), Mr. F. 

 Eutley (el. 1870), Mr. R. F. Tomes (el. 1877). Mr. R. H. Valpy 

 (el. 1862), Mr. W. Ferguson (el. 1854), the Rev. H. Brass (el. 1857), 

 Dr. C. Ricketts (el. 1867), Mr. T. W. Shore (el. 1878), the Rev. 

 H. P. Gurney (el. 1877), Mr. F. McCiean (el. 1863), Dr. I. Roberts 

 (el. 1870), and Mr. R. M. Browne (el. 1867) ; also of Professor 

 F. Fouque (el. For. Memb. 1889) and of Dr. C. E. Beecher (el. For. 

 -Corr. 1899). 



He then proceeded to call attention to the Classification of the 

 Sedimentary Rocks, pointing out that the arrangement of the events 

 which, taken together, constitute Earth-history, according to their 

 proper sequence in time must ever remain the territory of the 

 geologist in which he will pursue his labours by exclusively 

 geological methods. 



He pointed out that, since the time of William Smith, and mainly 

 by the adoption of his principles, the classification of the strata had 

 jprogressed towards perfection by the method of successive approxi- 

 mations. 



He drew attention to the many similarities between the records 

 of the geological column and the records preserved in the ' meteoro- 

 grams' of meteorologists. In each case the records were impressed 

 as zigzag and broken lines, though an additional difficulty occurred 

 in the case of the geological records owing to their frequently 

 blurred nature. 



Further, the meteorologist had his chronometer, whereas the 

 .geologist must construct his time-scale from the records on what 

 might, for purposes of comparison, be referred to as the 'geograms,' 

 or strips of the geological sediments. In some cases the lines of 

 the geograms closely coincided with time-lines, in other cases they 

 departed therefrom more or less widel}', and it was one of the tasks 

 of the geologists, from study of the geograms, to attempt to draw in 

 the time-lines. 



It was to be remembered, however, that however closely the time- 

 lines and lines of the records coincided, they were not the same lines. 



The President drew attention to the principal variations in the 

 .records of the geograms, due to alternate formation and cessation of 



