178 Reports and Proceedings — 



overmastering did this desire become that, although destined for a wholly different 

 career, I was finally allowed to follow whither she led. That ardour has lasted ever 

 since, and I am not conscious that it has yet begun to grow dim, even although 

 sometimes one may perhaps feel the hills to be a little steeper and the miles a Kttle 

 longer than they used to be thirty or forty years ago. 



But, passing from merely personal considerations, I receive this award with 

 peculiar satisfaction, because I regard it as another link in the chain of mutual 

 kindness and helpfulness which binds together this Society and the Geological 

 Survey. Among the recipients of the Wollaston Medal I find the names of all 

 my predecessors at the head of the Survey. That you should have added my name 

 to the list is doubly gratifying, for it may, I trust, be taken as a proof that the 

 feelings of cordial sympathy, which have so long united the two bodies, have not 

 been weakened during my tenure of office. Survey men are proud of their Con- 

 nection with this Society, and they share, I know, in the gratification which this 

 new expression of the Society's good will towards us cannot but create in our minds. 



If anything could add to the personal pleasure of the award it would be that the 

 medal should be placed in my hands by an old and valued friend like yourself. It 

 is such little touches of human interest which warm and light up formal ceremonies 

 like these. But there is a further source of satisfaction in the fact that while you. 

 Sir, are President of the Society, you are also, at the same time, the worthy and 

 honoured head of that great department of the National Museum which is specially 

 consecrated to the cultivation of our beloved science. The Triple Alliance of the 

 Society, the Museum, and the Survey is a league neither for offence nor for defence, 

 but stands as a symbol of that brotherhood which unites the promoters of science in 

 one common bond, and as a type of that union of the spirit of emulation with the 

 spirit of co-operation to which the advance of Geological Science in this coimtry is 

 so largely due. 



The President then presented to Mr. W. W. Watts, M.A., F.G.S., 

 late Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and now of the 

 Geological Survey of England and Wales, the Balance of the 

 Proceeds of the Wollaston Donation Fund, addressing him as 

 follows :— Mr. Watts,— 



In presenting to you the Balance of the "Wollaston Fund the Council of the 

 Geological Society desire to recognize the value of your work amongst the Igneous 

 Eocks, both in the field and with the microscope. 



Your papers "On the Igneous and Associated Rocks of the Breidden Hills" 

 (1885), "The Igneous Succession in Shropshire" (1888), and " On the Geology of 

 the Long Mountain" (1891), give evidence of your careful study of the stratigraphy 

 and palaeontology of the older Palseozoic rocks, and of the petrology of the igneous 

 rocks associated with them. 



Tour observations on the Corndon dolerite showed, for the first time, that a mass 

 of igneous rock presenting a definite laccolite- structure was to be found in this 

 country. 



The general results of your work are embodied in the important Memoir on "The 

 Geology of South Shropshire," by Prof. Lapworth and yourself (published in the 

 Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 1894). 



For several years you have rendered much valuable service as Secretary and 

 Recorder of Section G, at the British Association. 



Latterly you have devoted yourself more especially to the study of Igneous Eocks, 

 and the Geological Survey is to be congratulated on having secured your services. 



Mr. Watts, in reply, said : — Mr. President, — 



I am deeply sensible of the honour conferred upon me by the Council in awarding 

 me the Wollaston Grant, but I am overwhelmed by the feeling of my own un- 

 worthiness when I read the roll of distinguished men, including the President, who 

 have previously received this award. It is a great pleasure to take it from the hands 

 of one who has, throughout my career, shown me unvarying kindness and considera- 

 tion ; and my pleasure is further enhanced by the fact that at the same time my 

 chief. Sir Archibald Geikie, receives the oldest medal granted by the Society. What 

 work I have done has been largely due to the help and encouragement that I have 

 received from Prof. Lapworth, with whom the paper on the Geology of South 



