ANNIVERSARY MEETING. — WOLLASTON MEDAL. XX1U 



work proves the continued energy and ability of Mr. Hall in his fa- 

 vourite study. 



To me it has always appeared, that the history of any of the past 

 epochs of the earth's history may best be studied in countries which 

 have not undergone any great disturbance during its continuance. In 

 England, from its insular position, it is easy to observe that numerous 

 disturbances must have interfered with the tranquil course of events, 

 whilst in large continents, such as America, and a large portion of the 

 continent of Europe, such as Russia, &c, little comparative disturb- 

 ance may be looked for, and the succession of organic existences may be 

 supposed to have gone on under the influence of ordinary and natural 

 causes alone. Such considerations as these are the more interesting 

 at the present moment as Sir R. Murchison has lately been enabled 

 to establish the Silurian age of certain rocks in Scotland, by the dis- 

 covery in them of Silurian fossils, not of the English type, but of the 

 American type, amongst which may be mentioned the genus Maclurea, 

 so called after one of the first writers on American Geology, the well- 

 known Mr. Maclure. This curious fact adds to our interest in the 

 award of this Medal, which we wish to be considered as a testimony 

 of the high respect which our Society entertains for the labours of 

 American geologists, and especially for those of Mr. James Hall. 

 I should have felt much pleasure in transmitting the Medal through 

 Professor Ramsay, who during the last summer represented our So- 

 ciety at the Meeting of American Naturalists in Canada ; but in his 

 absence, I naturally turn to you, Sir Roderick Murchison, as the 

 natural leader on every question relating to the Silurian Formation, 

 and who would have been our representative in America had you not 

 found it necessary, from ill-health, to decline the pleasing duty in fa- 

 vour of Professor Ramsay, who may be considered almost your pupil. 

 Let me then request you to undertake the task of conveying the Me- 

 dal to Mr. James Hall, and expressing our high respect for him and 

 his labours. The Council has added the proceeds in the hope that 

 the sum, though small, may be of use to Mr. Hall in the publication 

 of his fossils. 



In reply Sir R. Murchison said : — 



Sir, — Although I am unexpectedly called upon, through the acci- 

 dental absence of Professor Ramsay, to receive the Wollaston Medal 

 for Mr. James Hall, I beg to assure you, that no one of my country- 

 men can more truly rejoice than I do in the adjudication of the highest 

 honour this Society can bestow, to so eminent an American geologist, 



In my earnest desire to have visited the United States and Canada 

 last summer — a desire which was alone frustrated by the state of my 

 health, — my chief gratification would have been to have examined, 

 under the guidance of James Hall, those great expanses of the Silu- 

 rian and other palaeozoic rocks of the Western Continent which he has 

 so truthfully and ably described ; for it is he who has shown us that, 

 however widely separated by the Atlantic, the fossil remains of the 

 earliest traceable living things in the New World have, like the present 

 inhabitants, the strongest relationship with the old country. Permit 



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