Geological Society of London, 185 



students ; and those who have heard you take part in our discussions 

 must have been alike astonished at the minuteness of your knowledge 

 of every branch of Geology and Palaeontology, and at the powers of 

 memory by which you were enabled to apply it. 



I have much pleasure in handing the Lyell Medal to one who, like 

 its founder, has rendered such long and meritorious services to our 

 science, and am glad that under the wise and liberal provisions of the 

 bequest, this token of our appreciation is accompanied by a sum which 

 may prove of assistance in enabling you to carry still further your 

 valuable observations and researches. 



Professor Morris replied as follows :— Mr. President,— In receiving 

 at your hands the first award of the medal founded by Sir Charles 

 Lyell, I cannot but deeply feel the distinguished honour which the 

 Council of the Geological Society have this day conferred upon me. 

 It is unnecessary to advert at this meeting to the works of an author 

 whose labours in the field he earnestly cultivated have so greatly 

 enlarged the bounds of geological knowledge and influenced the tone 

 of geological thought. I may say, Sir, that it was chiefly by reading 

 the flrst edition of Sir Charles Lyell' s '< Principles of Geology," and 

 his review in 1827 of Poulett Scrope, that I was led to perceive their 

 philosophical bearings, and was stimulated to continue geological re- 

 search, for although the '' Theory of the Earth" had been illustrated 

 and supported by the eloquence of a Playfair, it was the indefatigable 

 activity of Lyell, and his constant accumulation and assimilation of 

 new facts that led to the general acceptance of the principles advocated 

 by Hutton. Hence, whilst I cannot but feel strongly impressed by 

 the kind appreciation of the Council in this award as a recognition of 

 my sincere but imperfect attempts to assist the progress of geological 

 science, the gratification I experience at this unexpected honour is 

 greatly enhanced by the consequent association of my name with that 

 of Lyell. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, 

 in which, after congratulating the Fellows on the continued pros- 

 perity of the Society, he took occasion to indicate what seemed to 

 him the principal directions which the geological research of the 

 future would have to take. Eeferring to the facts as to the present 

 constitution of the sun revealed by spectrum-analysis, and their 

 bearing upon our conception of the early condition of the earth, and 

 hence of its present state as regards internal fluidity and thickness 

 of crust, he indicated as a probable inference from these considera- 

 tions that there must have been changes in the position of the earth's 

 axis. He referred also to the discoveries made by the naturalists of 

 the ''Challenger" Expedition, with regard to the distribution of 

 Gloligerina-ooze and greensand and red clay deposits at various 

 depths, and indicated the important bearing of these observations, 

 and the inferences founded upon them as to many questions relating 

 to the origin of rocks. "With regard to the climate of the Arctic 

 regions in past times, as recorded in the fossils found there, he ex- 

 pressed the opinion that none of the geological hypotheses hitherto 

 proposed sufficed to account for these phenomena. After noticing 

 some other points, the President criticized the scheme suggested by 



