PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 

 18th FEBEUAEY, 1859. 



Award of tbe Wollaston Medal and Donation Fund, 



After the Report of the Council had been read, the President;, 

 J. Phillips, Esq., M.A., LL.D,, P.R.S., placed in the hands of 

 Sir C. Ltell the WoUaston Medal awarded to Charles Darwin, Esq.;^ 

 saying : — 



Sir C. Ltell, — ^To no one can the Medal which is destined for 

 Mr. Darwin be committed with so much justice as to yourself, who, 

 hke him, have carried the fame of this Society over distant lands, 

 and, like him, have always looked on the phaenomena of nature with 

 a comprehensive survey, a minute attention, and a just appreciation 

 of the dignity of our science. Mr. Darwin, ever since his great 

 abilities became known by the " Researches during the Yoyage of 

 the ' Beagle,' " has never ceased to labour, even in spite of ill health, 

 in the cause of geology. We owe to him the admirable observations 

 on Coral-growth, which led to the grand speculation of alternate 

 zones of elevation and depression in the Pacrfic and Indian Oceans. 

 He has given us data for the modern elevation of Chili, for the often 

 repeated elevations of the Andes and the bordering regions ; through 

 great tracts of America his masterly hands have sketched and mea- 

 sured the prominent structures of rocks ; in the British Islands he 

 has studied the distribution of boulders, the change of level of land 

 and sea, the parallel roads of Glen Roy, the course of ancient glaciers. 

 I might enumerate many other of his judicious and vigorous efforts 

 on some of the harder problems of geology; but it is enough to men- 

 tion one of his latest labour's, which combines the rarest acquire- 

 ments as a naturalist with the qualifications of a first-class geologist. 

 The admirable monograph on the Cirripedia, which adorns the 

 volumes of the Palaeontographical Society — one of the most remark- 

 able in these volumes — has added much to a reputation already 

 raised to the highest rank. I have great pleasure in thus bearing 

 public testimony to the noble works of that Society, which has been 



