XXVUl PHOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



interesting to record the fact that I have read on more than one 

 occasion that a perusal of Lyell's ' Elements ' has been the first means 

 of calling the attention of persons previously unacquainted with the 

 subject to the study of this branch of science and to the eager in- 

 vestigation of the geological features of the country where they 

 resided. 



I must also take this opportunity of alluding to the great services 

 you have rendered to the study of Tertiary Geology in helping to 

 clear away the uncertainty which prevailed before 1830 respecting 

 the true chronological sequence of those fossiliferous beds which in 

 England, Erance, and Italy overlie the chalk formation, and in many 

 of which a greater or less number of species are found identical 

 with recent or living forms. With the assistance of M. Deshayes 

 you prepared comparative lists of the fossil shells found in the 

 different Tertiary formations, and of the identical living species, and 

 you ascertained that in proportion to their greater antiquity they 

 invariably contained a smaller percentage of living forms. On this 

 you founded that peculiar classification with which your name must 

 ever be associated. The terms Eocene, Miocene, Phocene, and Post- 

 pliocene will always remain as a memorial of the services you 

 have rendered to geological science. And although subsequent disco- 

 veries have shown that the lines of demarcation between these 

 groups cannot be so sharply drawn as was at first supposed, and 

 that the breaks previously believed to exist have been filled up by 

 newly discovered groups of strata, it must not be forgotten that 

 you always anticipated that such would be the case ; you never ad- 

 mitted the doctrine maintained by some geologists that these breaks, 

 both in the Tertiary and in the older formations, were the marks of real 

 interruptions and catastrophes breaking the regular series of events 

 in the geological history of the crust of the earth and of its inha- 

 bitants. The nomenclature which you introduced has been of im- 

 mense service in enabling us to arrange and coordinate the different 

 groups of Tertiary deposits which occur in so many localities of the 

 European area as well as in other portions of the earth's surface. 



Allow me once more to express the sincere pleasure and satisfac- 

 tion I experience in placing this Medal in your hands. 



Sir Charles Lyell, on receiving the Medal, replied as follows : — 

 The list of British and foreign geologists who have received the 

 "WoUaston Medal during the last thirty years has been honoured 

 by so many distinguished names that I cannot but feel highly gra- 

 tified that the Council has thought mine worthy of being added to 

 the number. I acknowledge with sincere thanks the flattering 

 terms in which you have spoken of my scientific labours and writings, 

 and I only trust that you have not greatly overrated their value. I 

 can at least assure you that as I grow older I become more and 

 more conscious of my inability to keep pace with the ever-increasing 

 rate at which geology is expanding, together with the numerous 

 sciences which are so intimately connected with it. 



