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The Reports having been read, it was resolved : 



That they be received and entered on the Minutes of the Meeting, 

 and that such parts of them as the Council may think fit, be printed 

 and distributed among the Fellows. 



The President then presented the Wollaston Medal to Mr. Richard 

 Owen, and, on doing so, said, 



Mr. Owen, 



I have peculiar pleasure in presenting to you this Medal, awarded 

 to you by this Society for your services to Fossil Zoology in general, 

 and, in particular, for the description of the Fossil Mammalia collected 

 by Mr. Darwin. I trust it will be a satisfaction to you to read this our 

 testimony of the success with which you have cultivated that great 

 science of comparative zoology, to which you have devoted your powers. 

 I trust it will add to your satisfaction to consider that the subject 

 which we more peculiarly wish to mark on this occasion, in the study 

 of Fossil Zoology, is one to which the resources of your science were 

 applied, while the subject was yet new, by that great man, John 

 Hunter, whose Museum and whose repvitation are so worthily 

 assigned to your care. I trust also that this Medal thus awarded to 

 you at the outset, if I may so say, of an enlarged series of investi- 

 gations, will convey to you the assurance that, in your progress in 

 such researches, you carry with you our strong interest in your en- 

 deavours, and our high esteem of your powers and your objects ; and 

 will convince you that in all your successes, you may reckon upon 

 our most cordial sympathy in the pleasure which your discoveries 

 give. 



Mr. Owen acknowledged his sense of the distinction conferred 

 upon him in the following terms : — 



I wish. Sir, that I had words adequately to express my deep sense 

 of the honour I have now received ; but I feel assured that you will 

 grant to me the sincerity of my brief acknowledgments. The study 

 of the animal organization has always abundantly repaid me by the 

 pleasure which naturally flows from the contemplation of the mar- 

 vellous skill with which, in the complete frame of existing species, 

 structures are modified and designed in relation to particular ends ; 

 and from the perception of a subordination of the various instruments 

 to one general plan. But since I have pursued anatomical invest: - 

 gations in connection with fossil remains, I have been rewarded by 

 new and extrinsic pleasures. I trace to this source my connexion 

 with the Geological Society, and the possession of some most valued 

 friendships ; and now. Sir, my obligations to the Society, and to Pa- 

 laeontology are increased ten-fold by the unexpected honour I have 

 this day received at your hands. I receive this testimony of your 

 good opinion as a strong stimulus to future endeavours. I cannot 

 permit myself to regard it as a reward for the inadequate contri- 



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