184 Reports and Proceedings — 



In presenting the balance of the Mnrchison Geological Fund to 

 Professor Eamsay for transmission to Mr. James CroU, the President 

 said : — 



Professor Ramsay, — Will you convey to Mr. CroU the balance of 

 the proceeds of the Murchison Pund, and at the same time express the 

 hope of the Council of this Society that it may prove of service to 

 him in the prosecution of those studies with which his name has been 

 so long and so honourably associated. 



His researches on Ocean Currents, on Glacial Phenomena, on the 

 bearing of the latter on Geological time, and of both upon Climate, 

 were generally known and appreciated, even before the appearance 

 last year of his work on Climate and Time, in which the results of his 

 studies are so carefully and ably expounded. 



The author of that book would be the last to regard the subjects of 

 which it treats as being all now definitely settled, and requiring no 

 further investigation ; and it is in the hope that his inquiries into the 

 phenomena of glaciation, and into the physical causes conducing to 

 extreme modifications of climate, may be still further prosecuted, as 

 well as in recognition of the valuable past labours of Mr. Croll, that 

 the fund which I place in your charge has been awarded to him. 

 Professor Pamsay, in reply, said : — 



Mr. President, — In returning thanks on behalf of Mr. Croll, I have 

 no need to enlarge on the merits of a man now so well known to 

 geologists by his numerous memoirs, and now especially by his re- 

 markable work, ' Climate and Time ; ' and though on a range of 

 subjects so wide it is not to be expected that there should be no 

 opponents to some of his views, there can yet be no doubt that the 

 ability which he has displayed commands the universal respect of men 

 of science and the adherence of not a few. 



The President then handed to Professor Morris, P.G.S., the first 

 Lyell Medal and the entire proceeds of the Pund, and addressed him 

 in the following terms : — 



Professor Morris, — This is, as you know, the first occasion on which 

 the award of the Medal and the proceeds of the Pund so liberally 

 bequeathed to the Society by our illustrious Pellow Sir Charles Lyell 

 has been under the consideration of the Council. It has, I may 

 venture to say, been unanimously felt, that it was impossible to find 

 a more worthy recipient than yourself; and that, in awarding both 

 the Medal and the available proceeds of the Pund to one whose name 

 was so intimately connected with the progress of Geological science, 

 we were best carrying out the intentions of the founder, and attaching 

 an importance to the Medal which would show that, though founded 

 later, it takes equal rank with the other medals at the disposal of the 

 Council. 



You have been a Pellow of this Society for upwards of thirty years, 

 but the published results of your geological investigations extend over 

 a period of more than forty. Your ' Catalogue of British Possils ' has 

 long taken rank as a standard work, while your communications to 

 this Society, both on Geological and Palseontological subjects, have 

 been of high value and importance. Your lectures have done much 

 to spiead a taste for Geology, and to enlarge the number of its 



