XXVIU PKOCEEDINGS OP THPI GEOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 



I must not dwell any longer on such topics in your presence ; I 

 win only add, in conclusion, that we all trust that health and 

 strength may be spared to you to enable you to complete the 

 great task you have undertaken, and that ere long we may have 

 the satisfaction of congratulating you on the completion of the 

 Monograph on the Silurian Brachiopods, which I understand you 

 propose shortly to commence. It only remains for me, in placing 

 this Medal in your hands, to express my own satisfaction with 

 the award of the Council. 



Mr. DAYiDSOisr, on receiving the Medal, replied as follows : — 



Mr. President, — I beg you will convey to the Council of the 

 G-eological Society my sincere and grateful thanks for the great 

 honour they and yourself have conferred upon me by the award 

 of the Wollaston Medal ; and I trust that, by renewed exertions, 

 I may continue to deserve their indulgent approbation. My 

 thanks are also due to you. Sir, for the very kind and favourable 

 manner with which you have alluded to my researches. Thirty 

 or more years have elapsed since I first commenced my geological 

 and palaeontological studies ; and although I have always con- 

 sidered it essential to keep up a general knowledge of all that 

 concerns both sciences, still I have likewise felt that, if I desired 

 to contribute my mite towards the advancement of science, I could 

 not do better than devote the larger portion of my time to an 

 intimate and searching study of a single class of fossils. I hailed 

 with delight the formation of the Palseontographical Society, as I 

 felt that, by division of labour, our British fossils would be sooner 

 or later thoroughly investigated; and I am sure, Sir, that the 

 very remarkable series of Monographs already published does suffi- 

 ciently attest that, with time, we shall be able to work out our 

 British Palaeontology, in all its branches, without requiring foreign 

 assistance. Since the progress of Geology is a subject of the 

 greatest importance, we naturally feel that it is to the G-eological 

 Society of London that we must look for support and encourage- 

 ment; and it gives me additional pleasure to receive this Medal 

 at your hands, from the fact of your being at the same time Pre- 

 sident of both these Societies. I am also proud in being able to 

 attest that the objects of the Palseontographical Society have met 

 with the warmest support from every Geologist, Palaeontologist, 

 and collector of fossils in Great Britain, who have also, in the 

 most praiseworthy manner, assisted to their utmost, those who 

 were engaged in the preparation .of these works. I beg you vdll 

 therefore aUow me. Sir, on the present occasion to tender our 

 most grateful acknowledgments to the many gentlemen who have 

 kindly affi)rded us such important assistance. 



I will not encroach further upon your valuable time, but beg 

 you will assure the Council that I shall endeavour to accomplish 

 what is still expected from my pen and pencil, and thus show my 

 gratitude for the great kindness and honour they have so gene- 

 rously conferred upon me. 



