Geological Society of London. 183 
Mr. Topley,—The Council has awarded the Murchison Medal to Professor James 
Geikie in acknowledgment of his important contributions to the Geology of North 
Britain, and especially of his investigation of glacial phenomena. His ‘ Great Ice- 
age’ contained a full, careful, and admirably written summary of the observations 
made up to 1874, and the interest excited by the work was proved by a second edition 
being required in 1877. Professor Geikie has besides published numerous papers, not 
the least important of which were two that appeared in the Society’s Quarterly 
Journal containing his observations “ On the Glacial Phenomena of the Long Island 
or Outer Hebrides.”’ 
Mr. Topuey, in reply, said:—Mr. President,—On behalf of Prof. James Geikie, 
who is detained in Scotland, I beg most heartily to thank the Council of the 
Geological Society of London, for the honour conferred upon him in the Award of 
the Murchison Medal. A prize founded by and continued in honour of his old chief, 
will, I am sure, have for Prof. James Geikie an especial value. He has desired me 
to communicate to you the following remarks : — ‘‘ I feel sure that my fellow- geologists 
will fully agree with me when I say that the prosecution of our favourite science is its 
own great reward. The charms that first took our fancy do not lose any of their 
attractions after we have become confirmed devotees. On the contrary, as years pass, 
our interest only deepens, and we are so absorbed that happily we escape much of the 
fret and fever of these bustling times. But a geologist, after all, is human, and he 
would be less so if he did not warmly appreciate the sympathy of his fellow- 
hammerers. I need hardly say, therefore, that I am extremely gratified to find that 
I have gained the sympathy of so representative a body of geologists as the Council 
of this Society. ‘The distinction which they have been so good as to confer upon me 
1 shall cherish not only as a mark of their appreciation of the little I have done, but 
as an additional incentive to continued work.” 
The President then presented the Lyell Medal to Prof. W. Boyd 
Dawkins, F.R.S., F.G.S., and addressed him as follows: 
Professor Boyd Dawkins, —In awarding to you the Lyell Medal for the present year, 
the Council of the Geological Society wishes to mark its recognition of the importance 
of your paleontological researches, and especially of the additions made by you to 
our knowledge of the mammalia found in the later Tertiary and particularly in the 
Pleistocene deposits of this country. Your researches have extended over a con- 
siderable number of years, and amongst the earliest of the papers published by you 
were those on British fossil oxen and on the dentition of certain extinct species of 
Rhinoceros, all of which appeared in the Society’s Quarterly Journal. Your attention 
has especially been directed to primeval man, his implements, and the mammals that 
were his contemporaries, and in your works on ‘Cave Hunting’ and ‘ Karly Man 
in Britain’ you have done much to disseminate a knowledge of scientific discoveries 
amongst readers whom more technical works would have repelled. 
Prof. Boyp Dawxrys, in reply, said:—Mr. President,—I thank you, from my 
heart, for the kind words which you have spoken in awarding to me the honour of 
the Lyell Medal. I feel, Sir, on looking back on the work of the last 25 years, how 
little I have been able to do compared with what I proposed to do, and I console 
myself with the knowledge that this is the common experience of all workers in all 
subjects. My main work has been in that field of Geological inquiry which looks 
towards history, in which Sir Charles Lyell, the founder of the Medal, rejoiced to 
labour, and its results have for the most part been published in the Journal of this 
Society. I feel therefore peculiar gratification in receiving in the name of this 
Society this medal for work done in Sir Charles Lyell’s favourite field. If I may 
speak of the future, I would say that I shall work all the harder through this mark 
of approbation of the Society, and that I hope to be able to do a little, in the time 
that is left to me, to fill up the blank which lies between our science and history. 
In presenting the Bigsby Medal to Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, F.G.S., 
the President said : 
Mr. Teall,—Your contributions to the Petrology of the British Islands have had a 
ereat influence on the views of British geologists. In your papers on the dykes of 
Northern England and Scotland you have added much to our previous knowledge, 
and in your description of the metamorphosis of dolerite into hornblende-schist you 
succeeded in proving what had certainly been suspected, but probably never so clearly 
