Geological Society of London. 179 



of the Cheddar Cliifs, which Mr. Mackintosh^ maintains were chiefly 

 formed by marine agency. 



(2.) Mr. A. Leipner concludes his paper on the Carboniferous 

 Corals in the Museum of the Bristol Association. 



There is also a notice of the Proceedings of the Bristol Micro- 

 scopical Society, of which Mr. W. W. Stoddart is the President. 

 This gentleman contributes a paper entitled a Microscopical Exami- 

 nation of the Water Supply of the Bristol Water Works Company. The 

 water is derived from streams which rise in the Mendip Hills, and 

 he shews it to be as pure as any in the kingdom, at the same time 

 asserting that no water procured from a town spring could be pure, 

 as many examples from the City of Bristol tended to prove. — H. B. W. 



Geological Society of London. — I. The Annual General Meet- 

 ing of this Society was held February 19th, 1869, Professor T. H. 

 Huxley, LL.D., F.E.S., President, in the chair. The Secretary read 

 the Eeports of the Council, of the Library and Museum Committee, 

 and of the Auditors. The general prosperity of the Society, as 

 evinced by its financial position and by the continued increase in the 

 number of its members, was stated to be very satisfactory. 



The President presented the "Wollaston Gold Medal to Henry Clifton 

 Sorby, Esq., F.E.S., and stated that in awarding the medal to him, the 

 Council desired to testify their appreciation of the value which they, 

 in common with all other geologists, attach to Mr. Sorby's laborious 

 investigations, continued now for a period of more than eighteen 

 years. The President referred especially to Mr. Sorby's researches 

 into the structure of rocks and minerals, and of meteorites ; to his 

 explanation of the phenomenon of slaty cleavage, now universally 

 adopted and fully in accordance with the results obtained by physi- 

 cal investigators who have approached the same question from a 

 very different side ; and finally remarked upon the peculiar fitness 

 of the award of the Wollaston Medal to a worker possessing so 

 much of that love of minute research, and so much of that power 

 of elucidating the great by the little which characterised its illustrious 

 founder. — Mr. Sorby briefly returned thanks for the honour con- 

 ferred upon him by the Council, and remarked that although his 

 investigations had been the result of a pure love of science, without 

 expectation of fee or reward, such a recognition of the value of his 

 services could not but be most grateful to him, and would encourage 

 him to proceed further on the same path. — The President then pre- 

 sented the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston Donation-fund 

 to Wm. Carruthers, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., of the British Museum, in 

 aid of his researches in Fossil Botany, remarking, especially with 

 regard to those directed towards the structure of Fossil Fruits, that 

 these are so valuable that Mr. Carru.thers might justly look upon the 

 award as an expression of gratitude for his labours. At the same 

 1 Intellectual Observer, August, 1867, p. 30. 



