Geological Society of London, 183 



Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, in expressing the thanks of his friend Prof. 

 Seguenza, said that this testimonial would not only be highly valued, 

 but be especially acceptable, because the stipend of an Italian Professor 

 was too small to enable him to prosecute his palseontological researches 

 as fully as he could desire. 



The President next handed the Murchison Medal to Professor 

 Ramsay for transmission to Mr. A. R. C. Selwyn, P.R.S., E.G.S., and 

 spoke as follows : — 



Professor Ramsay, — I place in your hands the Murchison Medal and 

 the portion of the Murchison Pund which have been awarded to Mr. 

 Alfred R. C. Selwyn, P.R.S., in recognition of his services to Silurian 

 geology ; for no one can appreciate better than yourself the character 

 and importance of his work, or can better convey to him the assurance 

 of the high estimation in which it is held. 



As one of the officers of the Geological Survey of this country, 

 engaged in unravelling the intricate Lower Silurian Rocks of J^orth 

 "Wales with their associated volcanic deposits ; as afterwards in charge 

 of the Geological Survey of Victoria, mapping its Silurian strata, its 

 gold-bearing rocks and auriferous gravels of different ages, and tracing 

 the relations of the latter to the Miocene beds of the colony and to 

 the older rocks ; as subsequently the successor of Sir William Logan 

 in the direction of the Geological Survey in our I^orth- American ter- 

 ritories from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, the labours of Mr. 

 Selwyn have extended over an enormous field. 



How successfully he has worked in it, the numerous and excellent 

 maps and sections executed under his superintendence, and his various 

 reports and papers fully testify. 



There is something peculiarly appropriate in the Medal founded by 

 Sir Roderick Murchison being given to one whose labours, like his own, 

 have lain so much among Silurian and Palaeozoic rocks, among gold- 

 fields, and in the direction of geological surveys. While it marks our 

 appreciation of Mr. Selwyn' s services to Geology, it will, I trust, not 

 be the less welcome to him as a proof that, though absent, he is not 

 forgotten by his fellow-workers. 



Professor Ramsay, in reply, spoke as follows : — 



Mr. President, — On behalf of Mr. Selwyn. I return thanks for the 

 honour that has been conferred on him. When Mr. Selwyn joined 

 the Geological Survey of Great Britain many years ago, I may almost 

 say that he received his first lessons in the art of Geological Survey- 

 ing from me ; but he very soon proved himself so proficient in the 

 work, that a large part of the survey of the intricate Lower Silurian 

 rocks of Korth Wales was executed by him in a masterly manner. 



When the Geological Survey of the Colony of Victoria was esta- 

 blished by the Colonial Government, Mr. Selwyn was selected to begin 

 and conduct that work ; and there also, with the help of Mr. Daintiee, 

 the Browns, and others, it was his lot again to be engaged on a great 

 scale in unravelling the intricacies of Silurian geology. After that 

 Survey was abolished, no one was considered so fit as he to succeed 

 the late Sir Wm. Logan as Director of the Geological Survey of our 

 North- American dominions ; and there is therefore an appropriateness 

 in the award of the Murchison Medal to one who has done so much 

 excellent work among Silurian rocks in three regions of the world. 



