182 Reports and Proceedings — 



Britain since the date of its constitution we are indebted for work freely done — 

 beyond the sphere of their more strictly professional duties. Its chiefs, from the 

 days of Sir H. De la Beche to the present distinguished Director-General, Dr. A. 

 Geikie, have been among the most valued contributors to our Journal, and have en- 

 riched geological literature by their longer writings ; while among its other members, 

 few have done more than yourself in following the example of its leaders. On the 

 present occasion I will only allude to the various Memoirs of the Geological Survey, 

 especially that on the London Basin, in which you have taken so large and im- 

 portant a share, and will dwell rather on your contributions to our own Journal and 

 to other publications. Your papers on the western end of the London Basin, and on 

 the Lower London Tertiaries of Kent, deserve to be ranked with the classic memoirs 

 of Prestwich as elucidating the geology of what I may call the Home District ; and 

 your last contribution to its deep-seated geology is still too fresh in our memories to 

 need more than a mention. We do not forget your varied and valuable contributions 

 to the Geological Magazine, especially those on the Bed Chalk of Norfolk, on 

 the Water-supply from the Chalk, on the formation of the Chesil Bank (written 

 jointly with Mr. Bristow), a paper, as it seems to me, of remarkable suggestiveness, 

 and last, but by no means least, " On Subaerial Denudation," in which, as remarked 

 by the late Mr. C. Darwin, you had "the good fortune to bring conviction to the 

 minds " of your fellow- workers by means of " a single memoir." 



We are also greatly indebted to you for your labours in reference to the history of 

 the literature of geology, a task involving not a little labour, which, though of the 

 greatest value to students, is to all unremunerative and would be, to many, exception- 

 ally toilsome. Of this, your care for several years of the Geological Kecord, and the 

 lists of books and memoirs relating to the geology of various counties in England, 

 are conspicuous instances. 



There is a peculiar appropriateness in the award to you of this Medal, founded by 

 Sir Boderick Murchison, one of the illustrious chiefs of your. Survey, and I have the 

 greatest pleasure, on behalf the Council of the Geological Society, in placing it in 

 your hands together with the customary grant from the Fund. 



Mr. Whitakek, in reply, said that to workers in science the best reward was the 

 appreciation of their fellow -workers, and of this he had on various occasions received 

 testimonies ; but the award of this Medal was the crowning one, knowing, as he well 

 did, the care with which such awards were made. He expressed his interest in the 

 Geological Survey, to which he had for so many years belonged, and in the important 

 work done by his colleagues in that Survey. He had a particular pleasure in re- 

 ceiving this award from the hand of an old friend like the President, whom he 

 thanked most heartily for the very kind and flattering terms employed by him in 

 presenting the Medal. He also thanked the Fellows of the Society present for the 

 cordial manner in which they had received the announcement of the award. 



In presenting the Balance of the Proceeds of the Murchison 

 Geological Fund to Mr. Clement Eeid, F.G.S., the President said : — 



Mr. Clement Beid, — The later Pliocene and the Pleistocene deposits of East Anglia 

 offer to geologists a series of problems as difficult as they are attractive. We are 

 indebted to you for much valuable information on the exact distribution and the fossil 

 contents of these varied deposits, which owing to peculiar local circumstances often 

 present exceptional difficulties, and demand exceptionally patient study on the part of 

 the investigators. Your memoir on the Forest Bed of Norfolk is a contribution of 

 especial value to students as affording them fuller and more precise information than 

 could previously be obtained, while the pages of our Journal and of the Geological 

 Magazine testify to the zeal and thoroughness with which you have applied yourself 

 to these and kindred questions. In conferring upon you this award from the 

 Murchison Fund, which I have great pleasure in placing in your hands, the Council 

 of the Geological Society hopes that it may aid you in prosecuting your studies in 

 this department of geology and extending them to localities which could not be 

 visited by you in the discharge of your professional duties as a Member of the 

 Geological Survey of Great Britain. 



Mr. Clement Beid, in reply, said : — Mr. President, — I have sometimes felt dis- 

 couraged at the small results of my work. But this welcome and unexpected award 

 by the Council of the Geological Society is a recognition that the work is not con- 

 sidered altogether worthless, and will encourage me still to persevere. Though a 

 large portion of my observations have been made in the course of the Geological 



