186 ReporU and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



We, of the Liverpool Geological Society, are proud to tliiuk that four of our 

 Presidents have been honoured by marks of distinction bestowed on them by the 

 mother Society. The encouragement which these awards have afforded cannot be 

 overestimated. When I look down a list of those who have received this award iu 

 former years, I cannot but think that the stimulus given has greatly influenced their 

 subsequent careers. I trust that may be so in my own case, and I shall always 

 endeavour to prove that yom- kindness has not been misplaced. 



In presenting the Bigsby Medal to Clement Eeid, Esq., F.L.S., 

 the President addressed him as follows : — Mr. Reid, — ■ 



The Council of the Geological Society have awarded to you the Bigsby Medal in 

 recognition of the excellent work which you have already accomplished, and in full 

 confidence that it will encourage you to continue those researches with unabated 

 vigour. Since 1874, when you joined the Geological Survey, you have been engaged 

 in mapping many areas and various formations, but you have more especially directed 

 your attention to Tertiary and Pleistocene geology, and your memoir, " On the 

 Geology of the Country around Cromer," has become a classical work of reference. 

 The painstaking manner in which you have searched for evidences of plant-remains 

 from the Pleistocene deposits merits the thanks of all, for the results have been truly 

 remarkable and have enabled us to realize far more clearly than was previously 

 possible the prevailing climatic conditions when they were accumulated. Besides 

 the Survey memoirs which you have written, you have found time to contribute 

 several important communications to this Society and valuable special notes to the 

 papers of other authors. I feel much pleasure in being privileged to hand to you, 

 on behalf of the Coimcil, this medal ; and I may be allowed to express the hope 

 that you will continue with the same e-nergy that has hitherto characterized you 

 to add to our knowledge of those special branches of the science which you have 

 already cultivated with so much success. 



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



The bestowal of this award, for which I tender my warmest thanks to the Council, 

 makes me feel that perhaps, after all, the results of my work may not be so valueless 

 as I have sometimes feared. No doubt, compared with the magnitude of the 

 problems which I have had before me, the results are very small ; and, when viewed 

 as a whole, must; seem disconnected. I may say, however, that the published 

 observations have more in common than would appear at first sight. They are 

 the outcome of a continued attack, from different sides, of some of those problems, 

 on the correct solutiou of which geological progress so largely depends. I allude 

 to the question of the alternations of climate which have taken place in bygone 

 times ; the relation of these alternations to the migration, extinction, and variation 

 of species ; and to past changes in physical geography ; and lastly, to the question 

 of the rapidity with which such changes can succeed one another. In short, my 

 somewhat ambitious task has been that of seeking a base-line for the measurement 

 of geological time. 



Towards the attainment of this end I have made but small progress ; yet, while 

 following unaccustomed paths noteworthy facts are constantly discovered, and many 

 a line of research, almost a failure from the point of view of the original inquiry, 

 has yet repaid the time and labour bestowed upon it. It is only, I am afraid, on 

 such minor questions that I have, as, yet, been able to thi-ow any light. My problem 

 still lies before me. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, 

 in which he first gave obituary notices of several Fellows and 

 Foreign Members deceased since the last annual meeting, including 

 Auguste Daubree (elected F. M. in 18G7), H. E. Bey rich (elected 

 F. M. in 1876), J. D. Whitney (elected F. M. in 1887), Baron C. 

 von Ettingshausen (elected F. C in 1884), Sir J. Prestwich (elected 

 a Fellow in 1833, President in 1870-1872), A. H. Green (elected 

 in 18G2), Capt. Marshall Hall (elected in 1866), W. Sharp (elected 

 in 1840), H. J. Slack (elected in 1849), R. N. Worth (elected in 

 1875), and D. Robertson (elected in 1877). 



