184 Reports and Proceedings— 
prove that you have uot neglected the Reptilia, while your “ Further Contributions 
to the History of the Norfolk Forest-bed’”’ and your notice of some new Mammals 
from the Crags show that the Mammalia have not been forgotten. Even in the class 
Aves you have indicated the presence of the Red-throated Diver in Pleistocene Beds 
at Mundesley and more recently described Gastornis MKlaassent from the Lower 
Kocene of Croydon. 
In presenting you with this token of their appreciation of your work, tlhe Council 
feel sure that you are by no means likely to relax those efforts in descriptive palwon- 
tology which have already borne such excellent fruit. 
Mr. Nrewrony, in reply, said:—Mr. President,— 
I am deeply sensible of the honour which the Geological Society has conferred 
upon me to-day, by the Award of the Lyell Medal, and regret that the work, of 
which you, Sir, have spoken so kindly, bears so small a proportion to the reward 
bestowed upon it; for the Medal of Sir Charles Lyell is in my estimation one of the 
highest honours which a geologist can hope to receive. 
It has been my good fortune to have been placed in a position which has brought 
me valuable specimens to work out, and if the results ot my labour are in any way 
of scientific value, it is due to training, in years gone by, under my esteemed master 
in science, the Rt. Hon. Professor Huxley. 
I receive this Award with the greater pleasure, because it is to me a further 
evidence of the kindly feeling existing between this Society and the members of the 
Geological Survey, who are to-day rejoicing and participating in the honours con- 
ferred upon two of their colleagues. 
I desire to express my warmest thanks to the Council for their much valued Award, 
and to you, Sir, for the kind words with which it has been accompanied. 
In handing the Bigsby Medal, awarded to Prof. W. J. Sollas, 
D.Sc., LL.D., M.A., F.B.S., F.G.8., to Mr. J. J. H. Teall, M.A., 
F.R.S., F.G.S., for transmission to the recipient, the PresipEntT 
addressed him in the following words :—Mr. Teall,— 
The Council have awarded to Prof. Sollas the Bigsby Medal in acknowledgment 
of his continued researches on the morphology and mineral constitution of the fossil 
Sponges. Fifteen years have elapsed since a President of this Society, in presenting 
him with the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston Donation Fund, expressed 
a belief that he would continue to benefit paleontological science by his researches 
on these obscure forms of life. That those anticipations have been fully realized, 
the important character of Prof. Sollas’s subsequent work in this direction most 
clearly proves. 
But it is not in Paleontology alone that he has evinced his interest in Geological 
Science, as his paper on the Silurian district of Rhymney and other contributions to 
the geology of the neighbourhood of Bristol serve to demonstrate. Nor have his 
efforts relaxed since he became Professor of Geology and Mineralogy in the Univer- 
sity of Dublin, as the “ Transactions’’ of the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal 
Trish Academy can testify. We recognize the philosophical biologist in his memoir 
on the Origin of Freshwater Faunas, and the mineralogist and chemist in his 
contributions to a knowledge of the Granites of Leinster. It is satisfactory to reflect 
that one who has done so much and in so many ways for science is still sufficiently 
young to receive the Bigsby Medal, and should he happily be spared, it is not 
unreasonable to suppose that still higher honours may await his efforts. 
Mr. Txaut, in reply, said:—Mr. President,— 
I have been requested by my friend Prof. Sollas to express his thanks to the 
Council of the Geological Society for the honour which they have conferred upon 
him. Had he been present in person I feel sure that he would also have thanked 
you, Sir, for the kind words with which you have accompanied the Award. He 
desires me to read the following communication :— 
‘« Tf the first impulse in the study of science arise from a longing for deeper insight 
into Nature, a second, at once powerful and innocent, is a desire for the approbation 
of elders. Thus I gratefully receive this Bigsby Medal awarded me by the Council, 
finding in it both reward, too little deserved, and stimulus to fresh endeavour. 
‘“My old friend and whilom fellow-student, Mr. Teall, who, by the indulgence 
of the Society, represents me to-day, was its recipient in 1889, and he concluded his 
ees oe Saran a ene 
