ANNIVERSAEY ADDEESS OF TKE PEESIDENT. XXV 



As the terms employed by the Council in awarding this prize, 

 enlarged upon as they have been so ably by yourself, have suffi- 

 ciently explained the grounds on which we acted, permit me, who 

 have been a close observer of the career of Charles Peach, to state 

 that his merits seem to me to be precisely those which respond to 

 the intentions of the illustrious testator. We have, in truth, granted 

 this Wollaston Purse to a man who, possessed of very slender means, 

 occupied with onerous public duties, and charged with the cares of 

 a family which he has thoroughly well educated, has proved not 

 only how much he could accomplish during leisure hours, but who 

 has shown that, even when employed in the arduous task of visiting 

 wrecks on wild headlands, he could detect fossils where no one ever 

 saw them before, and has thus enabled us to assign to hard and 

 crystalline rocks, the age of which was unknown, a definite place 

 in the Palaeozoic Series. 



From having been accompanied by Mr. Peach in exploring bold 

 coasts and lofty mountains, I can testify that boundless zeal and 

 activity are associated in him with a quickness of eye, a rapidity of 

 mental perception, and originality of thought, which render his ser- 

 vices invaluable in the endeavour to develope the geological struc- 

 ture and relations of any country. 



To these qualities let me add, that wherever he has been placed 

 in the execution of his duties, whether near the Land's End of 

 Cornwall or the northern extremity of Scotland, he has invariably 

 won the regard and affection of the inhabitants, every one of whom, 

 as well as myself and other men of science who know how to value 

 the man, will rejoice that we have thus rewarded the ingenious, 

 modest, and highly deserving Charles Peach. 



THE ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OE THE PRESIDENT. 



Gentlemen, — The Report of the Council has already made you 

 acquainted with the losses in our ranks occasioned by the decease of 

 Pellows of the Society dui^ing the past year. Among the names are 

 some which must occasion deep regret, soothed by profound admi- 

 ration. It is indeed in other circles that these sentiments may be 

 more strongly expressed ; but here we can never be indiiferent to 

 the loss of a prince of botany like Bro^^n, or a leader in mathe- 

 matics Hke Peacock, or a man of letters and science, giving his 

 laborious mind to the affairs of his country, like Warburton. 



On the present occasion my remarks will be very limited; the 

 part taken by our deceased Fellows in advancing the special objects 

 of our science being, even in the case of Mr. Warburton, only in- 

 cidentaL 



RoBEET Brown, M.A., F.R.S., D.C.L., born at Montrose 21st 

 December, 1773, died 10th June, 1858, full of years and of honoui's. 

 The immense and well-earned botanical knowledge of Dr. Brown was 

 turned to good account in geology by his friend Dr. Buckland, both 



VOL. XV. e 



