184 Reports &. Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



particular pleasure to receive this award from your hands, for you belong to 

 a body of scientific men whose practical work in geological surveying enables 

 them to judge the value of stratigraphical labours. 



It is now thirty-two years since the Society did me the honour to accept 

 a paper from my pen. My later work has followed that paper up, though in 

 more detail in the nomenclature both of strata and of species. But my later 

 work is guided by my interest in the study of evolution, good illustrative 

 subjects being found among Ammonites and Brachiopoda. This stratigraphic 

 and classificatory work was and is the necessary, if somewhat monotonous, 

 spade-work for evolution ; for it was useless to compile genealogies while the 

 sequence of strata was unknown in detail, and while nomenclature included 

 polyphyletic forms under the same designation. 



Through attention to and insistence on the importance of apparently trivial 

 details, the phenomenon of homoeomorphy was discovered, and the reception 

 accorded to homoeomorphy has at any rate been cordial. But it involves 

 a revision, almost a rewriting, of palaeontology. Much of my earlier work 

 I have revised ; much of it I should like to rewrite. 



Such spade-work finds perhaps its fullest expression in the publication 

 Yorkshire Type -Ammonites ; for the bed-rock of nomenclature must be an 

 exact knowledge of types. And I cannot let this opportunity pass without 

 acknowledging the debt which I owe to my enthusiastic collaborator, Mr. J. W. 

 Tutcher, who combines an excellent geological knowledge with unrivalled 

 photographic skill. His work has been the making of that j)ublication. 



To you, sir, and to the Council I tender my heartfelt thanks for an award 

 which encourages me to continue my researches. 



The President then presented the Bigsby Medal to Sir Thomas 

 Henry Holland, K.C.I.E., juldressino- him in the following words: — 



Sir Thomas Holland, — The Council have awarded to you the Bigsby Medal 

 in recognition of the eminent services which you have rendered to geology, 

 more especially during your tenure of office in India. Appointed to the 

 Geological Survey of India in 1890, you proceeded to enrich the Eecords and 

 other publications, not only with jjapers on petrological and other scientific 

 questions, but with the discussion of problems more directly bearing on the 

 welfare and safety of the inhabitants of India. Under your Directorship, from 

 1903 to 1909, the Geological Survey of India maintained its high reputation ; 

 while, at the same time, advantage was taken of your sagacity and extended 

 geological experience to obtain your advice in the administration of Indian 

 scientific affairs. 



It is not possible for me to refer in detail to your published works. They 

 range from petrology, mineralogy, stratigraphy, and seismology into the domain 

 of geography, one of your latest papers having been devoted to an account of 

 the remarkable dissemination of salt which can be effected by wind. But 

 I may emphasize, in the words of the founder of this Medal, the fact that you are 

 not too young to have done much, and that you are not too old for further work. 

 It is the hope of the Council that you will continue for many years at home the 

 eminently useful career which you have commenced so auspiciously in India. 



Sir Thomas Holland replied as follows : — 



I deeply appreciate the honour which has been conferred on me by the 

 Council, as well as the generous terms in which you, sir, have referred to my 

 work. Nothing could be more pleasing to a worker than to be enjoined by 

 one's seniors to continue in work. 



A glance over the list of my distinguished predecessors shows how abundantly 

 each one subsequently fulfilled the intention of this award, and thus one's 

 feelings of satisfaction become tinged with those of great responsibility. At 

 the same time, when one realizes that the Council hitherto has never made 

 a mistake in its selection of a recipient for the Bigsby Medal, this feeling of 

 responsibility becomes again blended with that of hopeful ambition. 



In so far as this honour is a recognition of work already done, I should like 

 to make it known to the Council that my chief aims in India have been to 



