Maixh 2gth, i8g8?[ Proceedings. xxix 



Special Meeting, March 29th, 1898. 

 James Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., President, in the Chair. 



The meeting was specially convened for the presentation of 

 the Wilde and Dalton Medals and of the premium, and for the 

 delivery of the Wilde Lecture for 1898. There was a large 

 attendance of members and friends. 



The President, in his opening remarks, referred to the fact 

 that last year, when the Wilde Medal was presented for the first 

 time, Dr. Schunck stated at length the particulars of the generous 

 benefactions of Mr. Wilde, and said that it was, therefore, not 

 necessary to again speak of these except to express their con- 

 tinued sense of indebtedness to Mr. Wilde. The Wilde Medal 

 for this year had been awarded, by the unanimous vote of the 

 Council, to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, G.C.S.L, C.B., F.R.S. 



In presenting the Wilde Medal for 1898 to Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, the President spoke as follows : — 



"The name of Hooker has been associated with botanical 

 progress during nearly the whole of the present century. Sir 

 William Jackson Hooker, the father of Sir Joseph, had been 

 appointed, in 1820, Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow 

 University, and, in 1844, was made Director of Kew Gardens, 

 which post he held until his death in August, 1865, being 

 succeeded by his son, who continued to hold the office for more 

 than twenty years. But Sir Joseph is also known to fame as a 

 traveller. His first journey, early in the forties, was to the Ant- 

 arctic regions, including visits to New Zealand, the Auckland and 

 Campbell Islands, the Strait of Magellan, and the Falkland 

 Islands. The southernmost shores of Australia, particularly 

 Tasmania, were also explored, the results being embodied in the 

 Floras of Tasmania and New Zealand^ and the Botany of the 

 Antarctic Voyage. A few years later, in 1848, in company with 

 Mr. Thomson, he essayed a comprehensive botanical journey to 

 India, the first fruits of which were his delightful journals of the 

 Himalayan region, and the beautiful work on the Rhododendrons 



