48 



pears that the balance of disposable property in favour of the So- 

 ciety, taken at a very moderate estimate, is £2010, while the total 

 amount of the compositions of all the compounders in the List of 

 FelloH^s since the foundation of the Society does not exceed £2394;. 

 The difference is less than £4'00. If, then, the value of the collec- 

 tions, library, and furniture belonging to the Society be taken into 

 account, our actual property considerably exceeds the claims of all 

 our compounders, our current income being wholly disposable and 

 free. 



WoLLASTON Medal. — The product of the Wollaston Fund du- 

 ring the past year has been awarded to Mr. Agassiz of Neufchatel, 

 in promotion of his work on the " General History of Fossil Fishes." 



The first part of Mr. Agassiz's publication has but recently reached 

 England, and the Council have availed themselves of the earliest op- 

 portunity of giving support to an undertaking of great geological im- 

 portance. The author's qualifications for this work were so highly 

 appreciated by the late Baron Cuvier, who had himself been engaged 

 in a similar project, that on seeing Mr. Agassiz's collection of draw- 

 ings, and hearing a statement of his views, and the results at which 

 he had arrived, that profound naturalist at once transferred to Mr. 

 Agassiz the whole of his materials. The approval of Cuvier is 

 fully sanctioned by the portion of the work which is now before the 

 Society. In deciding on the present award, the Council have acted 

 strictly in compliance with the bequest of Dr. Wollaston. The 

 work of Mr. Agassiz is intimately connected with the objects of 

 this Society ; it demands for its completion great labour and ex- 

 pense. It is still in progress, and its publication has been ably com- 

 menced with a full assurance of the author's competenc}' to the ful- 

 filment of the task he has begun. 



In his prospectus, Mr. Agassiz solicits the contribution of spe- 

 cimens from all quarters ; and I cannot better close the announce- 

 ment of a testimony of approbation which I trust will be gratifying 

 to his feelings, than by requesting the Fellows of the Geological 

 Society to aid the progress of this important work, by giving or 

 lending to its author any drawings and specimens of fossil fishes 

 which they may either possess or obtain. The transmission and re- 

 turn of these loans can be easily effected through the medium of the 

 officers of this house. 



The History of Geology has been recently treated by several 

 authors, especially by Mr. Conybeare and Mr. De la Beche, in a 

 manner which would render any observation from me on that sub- 

 ject at once superfluous and imprudent. The communications read 

 at our general meetings have been fixed in your memory by the 

 discussions to which they have given rise, and the published abs- 

 tract of their contents. Still, however, it may be well to enumerate 

 these communications, that you may measure the exertions mad*^ 



