PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 

 15th FEBRUARY, 1867. 



AWAKD OP THE WoLLASTOIST MeDAL. 



The Reports of the Council and of the Committees having been read, 

 the President, "Waeikgton^ W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., E.R.S., delivered 

 the Wollaston Medal to G. Poulett Scrope, Esq., M.P., E.R.S., 

 F.G.S., addressing him as follows : — 



Mr. Poulett Sceope, — With great pleasure I proceed to fulfil the 

 duty which devolves upon me of presenting to you the WoUaston 

 Medal, which has been awarded to you by the Council of the Society 

 in recognition of the valuable services which you have conferred on 

 Geological Science by your researches on the Geology of Central 

 France, and by your published works on volcanic phenomena 

 throughout the world. 



The extinct volcanos of the Auvergnehad long attracted the 

 attention of French naturalists ; and the identity of their character 

 with that of now active volcanos was recognized by Guettard as early 

 as 1751. Dolomieu had, before the end of the last century, noticed 

 the important fact of the derivation of their materials from a region 

 beneath the granite of the district, and Montlosier and others had 

 done much to explore and describe them. But no thorough and 

 satisfactory examination had been made until you collected, with 

 the expenditure of much time and study, those materials which, 

 although prepared for the press in 1822, were not published until 

 1827. 



That work, the memoir on ' The Geology of Central France, in- 

 cluding the volcanic formations of Auvergne, the Yelay, and the 

 Vivarais,' gave at length to the world an exhaustive and a beauti- 

 fully illustrated essay on that interesting region ; and I am happy 

 to record my personal testimony, which wiU be endorsed by many 

 of the Fellows of the Society, to the accuracy of your descriptions 

 and the soundness of your conclusions. 



In your 'Considerations on Yolcanos,' published in 1825, and in the 

 new amplified edition of that work, entitled * Yolcanos, the Character 

 of their Phenomena, their share in the Structure and Composition of 

 the Surface of the Globe, and their Relation to its Internal Forces,' you 

 have supplied geologists with a most valuable collection of facts and 

 deductions. And however much theoretical views may change with 

 the advance of our science, I feel assured that your name wiU remain 

 linked with the study of this important class of the agencies which 

 modify the surface of the earth. 



