Geological Society of London. 181 



must be the present total ? I may, however, point, in passing, to his admirable 

 " Manual de Mineralogie," and allude, as more directly bearing on the work of this 

 Society, to his papers on the classification of hyperites and euphotides, on the geysers 

 of Iceland, on the action of heat upon the position of the optic axes in a mineral, 

 and the numerous memoirs on the distinction of minerals by their optical properties, 

 especially those relating to microcline, and to other species of felspar, of the importance 

 of which students of microscopic petrology are daily more sensible. I esteem it a 

 great honour to be the means of carrying into effect the award of the Council by 

 placing in your hands, to be transmitted to Prof. Des Cloizeaux, the Wollaston 

 Medal, founded "to promote researches concerning the mineral structure of the 

 earth." 



Mr. Warington W. Smyth, in reply, said: — Mr. President, — It is, Sir, with 

 more than ordinary satisfaction that I am privileged to receive for, and to transmit to, 

 Prof. Des Cloizeaux the Medal founded by Dr. Wollaston. No one can fail to ap- 

 preciate the appropriateness of this award when we consider the researches into the 

 physical characters of minerals which have contributed so much to the penological 

 branch of our science, in which you, Sir, have taken so prominent a part. But it is 

 more especially in the wide and successful application of Wollaston' s invention of 

 the Reflection Goniometer that Des Cloizeaux has attained so deserved an eminence, 

 following closely upon the steps of Prof. Miller, to whom, in his admiral manual, he 

 pays so high a compliment. The Society will regret to learn that Prof. Des Cloizeaux 

 has been prevented by domestic anxieties from being present to-day. 



The President then presented the Balance of the Proceeds of the 

 Wollaston Donation Fund to Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, F.G.S., and 

 addressed him as follows : — 



Mr. Starkie Gardner, — The small number of students and the paucity of memoirs 

 seems to indicate that fossil botany is one of those subjects of which the difficulties 

 repel rather than fascinate the neophyte. If perhaps these are in some respects less 

 formidable in the plant-remains of the earlier Tertiary period, if, in studying them, 

 recent throws some light on fossil botany, yet the practical difficulties of obtaining, 

 developing and preserving specimens are so great that no little ardour and patience 

 are demanded from one who devotes himself to the subject. For years this has been 

 your special work : after thoroughly exploring the flora of the Eocene Tertiaries on 

 the coast of Hampshire and in the Isle of Wight, you are now, and have for some 

 time been, engaged in communicating to us the fruits of your labours through the 

 medium of the Palseontographical Society, thereby earning the thanks of students. 

 Your researches also of late years have been extended to Antrim, Midi, and even 

 Iceland, and then- results cannot fail to be of the highest interest in regard to the 

 age of these floras, and their relation to those which occur in the Hampshire district. 

 lu recognition of past and in aid of future work, the Council has awarded to you the 

 balance of the Wollaston Fund, which I have much pleasure in handing to you. 



Mr. Gardner, in reply, said : — Mr. President, — I beg to return my thanks for 

 the honour the Council have done me in placing the balance of this fund at my 

 disposal. The amount of leisure 1 am able to command has not permitted me to 

 contribute towards the advancement of geology in this country in anything like the 

 same proportion as my professional brethren ; but I think I may fairly claim to 

 yield to none in my devotion to its pursuit. The subject I somewhat unfortunately 

 monopolize is one of such magnitude that, at the best, very many years of such work 

 as 1 am able to devote to it must elapse before even a first general impression of the 

 composition of our Eocene flora can be published. I am, however, so deeply im- 

 pressed with the importance of the study that I am prepared to sacrifice much in 

 order that the time required may not be unduly prolonged. I am convinced that in 

 addition to the ordinary botanical, palajontological, and evolutionary interest attach- 

 ing to it, it will be found to present the solution of many problems as to the former 

 relative positions of land and sea and the climatic changes accompanying their suc- 

 cessive redistribution. I need hardly add that I regard the award made me this day 

 as a direct encouragement to persevere in the line of research I have chosen. 



The President next presented the Murchison Medal to Mr. William 

 Whitaker, B.A., F.G.S., and addressed him as follows : — 



Mr. William Whitaker, — To many members of the Geological Survey of Great 



