184 Reports & Proceedings — Geological Society of London, 



at the time and still a highly prized remembrance. This work has not all been 

 officially published, even now. 



The discovery of the structure and succession of the Devonian rocks would 

 have been effected by a dear friend of mine, the late A. Champernowne, but for 

 his untimely death in 1886. In 1888-9 I was employed in endeavouring to 

 reconcile the different versions of Champernowne 's work, with a view to 

 publication, and I made an earnest attempt to solve the doubts which 

 Champernowne entertained as to the relative positions of certain members 

 of his sequence. The solution of these problems led to the establishment 

 of the true Devonian succession in South Devon, and to the correlation of the 

 subdivisions with those of the Continent. In this work I have been greatly 

 assisted by Continental geologists, among whom my old friend Professor Gosselet 

 (a former recipient of the Murchison Medal) figures prominently. The tentative 

 application of this succession to Cornwall in 1891 was proved to be substantially 

 correct by the subsequent work of the Geological Survey. 



In conclusion, Sir, allow me to renew the expression of my thanks for the 

 honour conferred upon me. 



In handing the Lyell Medal, awarded to Charles Stewart Middiemiss, 

 B.A., to Sir Thomas H. Holland, K.CI.E., for transmission to the 

 recipient, the President addressed him as follows : — 



Sir Thomas Holland, — During a service of more than thirty years on the 

 Geological Survey of India, Mr. Middiemiss has done much to advance our 

 knowledge of the geology of that country. 



He was one of the first to apply modern microscopical methods to Indian 

 problems, and by their use in dealing with palagonite-bearing traps and the 

 phenomena of contact-metamorphism arising from the intrusion of the 

 Himalayan central granite, was able to make important con|;ributions to 

 the science of petrography. We are indebted also to him for a great extension 

 in our knowledge of the Archaean complex in the southern and south-eastern 

 parts of the peninsula. 



In his studies on tectonic geology in the Sub-Himalaya of Kumaon, the 

 frontier district of Hazara, and the Salt Eange of the Punjab he has displayed 

 a marked originality, and his more recent work in Kashmir has done much to 

 elucidate the pre-Tertiary geography of Gondwanaland. His investigations of 

 the Bengal earthquake of 1885, and his elaborate analysis of the phenomena 

 accompanying the disastrous Kangra shock in 1905, form valuable additions to 

 seismological records. No less has applied geology benefited by his investigations 

 on the stability of slopes in mountainous regions. 



The papers in which Mr. Middiemiss has presented his results enrich the 

 publications of the Geological Survey of India, not only by their scientific 

 value, but by the literary charm of his pen and by the happy facility of 

 his pencil. 



In recognition of this great record of work, the result of single-hearted 

 . devotion to his duties, I ask you to forward to Mr. Middiemiss, on behalf of 

 the Council, the Lyell Medal. 



Sir Thomas Holland, in reply, said : — 



It gives me special satisfaction in this way to represent my Service in 

 acknowledging the honour bestowed on a colleague who, by his unselfish 

 devotion to work and his gentle disposition, has so conspicuously earned the 

 affectionate respect of every officer with whom he has worked. 



You have referred, Sir, both judicially and judiciously, to the excellent 

 quality of Mr. Middiemiss 's long record of published results ; but only those of 

 us who have been his colleagues in India can form a sufficient appreciation 

 of his perfect freedom from personal ambition and his disinterested devotion to 

 the science of geology. 



By reason of a combination of chances such as often affects a service which 

 is partly official and partly scientific, I have had the peculiar opportunity of 

 discovering the fine personal qualities of Mr. Middiemiss from two distinct 



