Oeological Society of London. 177 



Museum by Mr. C. Davies Sherborn, F.G.S., and expressed the 

 opinion that this work should be continued in the Foreign Collection, 

 so soon as a grant from the Society's funds can be made for the 

 purpose. 



In presenting the Wollaston Medal to Sir Archibald Geikie, D.Sc, 

 LL.D., F.K.S.L. & E., F.G.S., the President addressed him as 

 follows : — Sir Archibald Geikie, — 



It is one of the greatest pleasures of my office to be the medium of the Council 

 in conreying to so distinguished a recipient as yourself the Wollaston Medal — the 

 highest token of appreciation which it is within their power to bestow ; and to 

 assiii-e you, at the same time, of the unanimity of good will and esteem which 

 marks its presentation. 



I find it a most difficult task adequately to express, in a few words, an idea 

 of the great services that you have rendered to Geology, whether as an active 

 worker and observer in the field, for forty years, or as an eloquent and polished 

 literary exponent of the science which we cultivate. 



In 1863 you published not the least important of your Memoirs, "On the 

 Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland," in which you gave the earliest 

 connected account of the various Drift-deposits and chief Glacial features of your 

 native country, and you then advocated the agency of land-ice in the formation of 

 the great accumulations of Boulder-clay and Till. This, and the later surface- 

 changes, with their geologic and historic associations, have ever interested you, 

 and in your " Scenery of Scotland" you have rendered the subject most instructive 

 and interesting to others also, both by pen and pencil. 



The regions of Skye have always had a peculiar fascination for you. In your 

 earliest contribution to this Society you described the subdivisions and enumerated 

 the fossils of the Lias of that island. 



Later on your attention became directed to the Volcanic Rocks of the Inner 

 Hebrides. These researches, which were eventually embodied in your great Memoir 

 on "The History of Volcanic Action during the Tertiary Period in the British 

 Isles," will hold a lasting place in geological literature. 



You early studied the microscopic structure of rocks, and the eruptive ejectamenta 

 of different periods engaged your attention. 



Your Memoir on the Carboniferous Volcanic Eocks of the Basin of the Firth of 

 Forth (1879) — one of the earlier fruits of these researches — deserves especial 

 mention ; and you were eventually led to consider generally the history of volcanic 

 action in Britain, an account of which is given in the two Presidential Addresses 

 delivered by you before this Society (1891-92). I may also allude to your Memoir 

 on the Old Red Sandstone ; to your researches among the older rocks, and to the 

 admirable manner in which you have directed the labours of your staff on the 

 Geological Survey, especially in their Avork among the Scottish Highlands, where 

 the geologist is confronted by some of the most difficult and complicated of geo- 

 logical problems. Your great Text-Book of Geology; your attractive Memoirs of 

 Edward Forbes, of Murchison, and lastly, that just puljlished, of Ramsay — attest 

 the facility with which you wield the pen, as well as the hammer. It has been my 

 good fortune to claim you among my personal friends since first we met in 1864, and 

 many good papers by you have appeared in the Geological Magazine, as well as 

 in the Quarterly Journal. May you long continue to hold the important position of 

 Director-General of our Geological Survey, to the well-being of the members of 

 your staff, and to the advancement of Geology in this country. 



Sir Archibald Geikie, in reply, said :— Mr. President, — 

 To receive from the Geological Society its highest award, and thus to be enrolled 

 in that list of illustrious names so intimately associated with the birth and progress 

 of Geology, is a distinction of which a man may well be proud. I am deeply grateful 

 to the Council for the honour which they confer upon me, and to you. Sir, for the 

 kindly but too eulogistic words with which you have handed to me the Wollaston 

 Medal. For any services which I have been able to render to the cause of our 

 favourite science I am mainly indebted to the enthusiasm with which, in my boyhood, 

 the science itself inspired me. Geology early fascinated me, and she fascinates me 

 still. She filled me with earnest desire to devote my life to her service, and so 



DBCADE IV. VOL. II. NO. IV. 12 



