﻿PROCEEDINGS 
  

  

  AT 
  THE 
  

  

  ANNUAL 
  GENERAL 
  MEETING, 
  

   19th 
  FEBRUARY, 
  1864. 
  

  

  AWAED 
  OF 
  THE 
  "WOLLASTON 
  MEDAL. 
  

  

  The 
  Reports 
  of 
  the 
  Council 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  Committees 
  having 
  been 
  read, 
  

   the 
  President, 
  Professor 
  A. 
  C. 
  Ramsay, 
  delivered 
  the 
  Wollaston 
  

   Medal 
  to 
  Sir 
  Roderick 
  Mttrchisojn 
  t 
  , 
  addressing 
  him 
  as 
  follows 
  : 
  — 
  

  

  Sir 
  Roderick 
  Mtjrchison, 
  — 
  The 
  accident 
  of 
  your 
  retirement 
  from 
  

   the 
  Council 
  of 
  this 
  Society 
  last 
  year, 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  its 
  senior 
  Members, 
  

   has 
  enabled 
  us 
  to 
  bestow 
  on 
  you 
  that 
  honour, 
  which, 
  but 
  for 
  your 
  

   previously 
  unbroken 
  services 
  on 
  the 
  Council 
  for 
  a 
  period 
  of 
  thirty-two 
  

   years, 
  would, 
  I 
  well 
  believe, 
  have 
  been 
  conferred 
  on 
  you 
  many 
  

   years 
  ago. 
  The 
  fame 
  of 
  your 
  great 
  original 
  work 
  on 
  the 
  Silurian 
  

   System, 
  in 
  which 
  you 
  clearly 
  unravelled 
  the 
  intricacies 
  of 
  the 
  Lower 
  

   Palaeozoic 
  rocks 
  on 
  the 
  borders 
  of 
  Wales, 
  was 
  already 
  established 
  

   before 
  I 
  ever 
  set 
  foot 
  in 
  these 
  rooms 
  ; 
  and 
  the 
  whole 
  geological 
  world 
  

   knows 
  how 
  well 
  that 
  fame 
  has 
  been 
  maintained 
  in 
  many 
  books 
  and 
  

   memoirs, 
  and 
  also 
  in 
  the 
  field, 
  in 
  the 
  development 
  of 
  the 
  geology 
  of 
  

   European 
  Russia, 
  and 
  last, 
  not 
  least, 
  in 
  the 
  singular 
  revolution 
  you 
  

   have 
  effected 
  in 
  the 
  classification 
  of 
  the 
  strata 
  of 
  your 
  native 
  High- 
  

   lands. 
  To 
  me 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  peculiar 
  pleasure, 
  as 
  President, 
  to 
  be 
  accidentally 
  

   the 
  means 
  of 
  placing 
  in 
  your 
  hands 
  this 
  medal, 
  because 
  I 
  believe 
  it 
  is 
  

   impossible 
  to 
  place 
  it 
  in 
  hands 
  that 
  have 
  more 
  worthily 
  wielded 
  the 
  

   hammer 
  ; 
  and, 
  perhaps, 
  on 
  this 
  occasion 
  I 
  may 
  be 
  pardoned 
  for 
  re- 
  

   calling 
  the 
  memory 
  of 
  a 
  time 
  I 
  well 
  remember, 
  when, 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  

   geologists 
  of 
  weight, 
  you, 
  Sir, 
  were 
  the 
  first 
  who 
  held 
  out 
  the 
  hand 
  

   of 
  fellowship 
  to 
  me, 
  a 
  young 
  man, 
  when 
  four-and-twenty 
  years 
  ago 
  

   I 
  was 
  struggling 
  to 
  enter 
  into 
  the 
  ranks 
  of 
  geologists. 
  

  

  Sir 
  Roderick 
  Mtjrchisoi* 
  replied 
  in 
  the 
  following 
  manner 
  : 
  — 
  

  

  Mr. 
  President, 
  — 
  As 
  upwards 
  of 
  forty 
  years 
  have 
  elapsed 
  since 
  I 
  

   had 
  the 
  good 
  fortune 
  to 
  profit 
  by 
  social 
  intercourse 
  with 
  that 
  eminent 
  

  

  d2 
  

  

  