182 Reports and Proceedings— Geological Society of London. 



At that time, however, the effect of your work could hardly be appreciated to the 

 full. I believe that the appreciation of it will increase as time goes on, and I am 

 glad to know that in an elaborate Memoir on the Silurian Eocks of Scotland, shortly 

 to be published, the Officers of the Geological Survey do full justice to your series of 

 papers on those rocks in the South of Scotland, saying that you have furnished 

 a complete solution of the stratigraphical and palseontological difficulties of the 

 subject, aud have discovered the key to the complicated stratigraphy of the region. 

 The summary, at the end of the chapter on Previous Researches, is written ' ' to place 

 clearly on record the distinctive features of Professor Lapworth's achievements, 

 . . . . which resulted in establishing the true order of succession of the strata." 

 _ We hardly know, indeed, which to admire most, the brilliance of your work or the 

 single-mindedness with which it has been done ; not only in the Scottish Uplands, 

 but also in the still more remarkable region of the North- Western Highlands, where 

 the officers of the Geological Survey have now worked out in detail that most com- 

 plicated structure which you so justly appreciated. 



In establishing the Ordovician System, too, you have done your best to promote 

 harmony between the rival claimants for Cambrian and for Silurian. 



Since the Bigsby Medal was awarded to you your labours in various branches of 

 Geology have been continued, notably in further working out the structure of the 

 Southern Uplands of Scotland, in the discovery of the English OleneUiis -rocks, and 

 in additions to our knowledge of the Olenellus-tsmxia and its geological relations. 

 Tour researches on the ancient rocks of Shropshire have been published only in 

 abstract ; the striking results at which you have arrived lead us to hope that ere long 

 they may be published in full. 



In your address to the Geological Section of the British Association in 1892, you 

 astounded your hearers by the way in which you applied your knowledge of 

 mountain-structure to questions of the largest kind, showing a breadth of view that 

 had not been surpassed by any geologist. 



Lately, and in quite another line of work, in that admirable Sketch of the Geology 

 of the Birmingham District, issued by the Geologists' Association last year, you have 

 given us one of the best accounts of any English district that we possess, weaving in 

 the work of others and giving it the character of a perfect fabric. 



It is not only, however, for your work as a geologist that we wish to honour you, 

 but also for your work as a teacher. In saying this, I do not refer merely to your 

 professional work, excellent though it be, but rather to that highest of all teaching, 

 the influence that you have had on your fellow-workers in Geology. That influence 

 is to be traced in much of the best work that we have had of late years, and diu-ing 

 our present Session we have had important papers which, I venture to say, would not 

 have been written but for lines of thought suggested by you. We look forward to 

 a, long continuance of your brilliant labours. 



Professor Lapworth replied in the following words : — Mr. 

 President, — 



I am deeply grateful to the Council of the Geological Society for the great honour 

 which they have conferred upon me by the award of the Wollaston Medal ; and to 

 you. Sir, for the kindly, and indeed too kindly, terms in which you have referred to 

 my scientific work. 



It was my happy lot to have, at the very outset of my geological career, the aid 

 and encouragement of a master in the science — my dear friend, the late Professor 

 Alleyne Nicholson. It has been my good fortune to live in districts where some new 

 geological work could be done. And more, since the day when I read my first 

 geological paper, I have been encouraged and stimulated by the friendship and the 

 sympathy of many earnest geologists. 



When I think of my many opportunities, and remember how often my results have 

 fallen sadly short of my aims, I feel that this distinction is less a reward than 

 a consolation. But I accept it as an outward and visible sign that the Council are 

 well aware that the same instinctive love for our glorious and all-embracing science 

 as that which inspired those whose names adorn the illustrious roll of the past 

 Wollaston Medallists, has also prompted and guided me in my work, and has given 

 me a place in the generous regard of the Fellows of the Geological Society. 



In handing the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston Donation 

 Fund (awarded to Prof. J. B. Harrison, M.A., F.G.S.) to Mr. J. J. H. 



