XXVm PEOCEEDINaS OF THE aEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. PoTTLETT ScROPE,' on receiving tlie Medal, replied as follows : — 



Mr. Peesident, — I cannot find words to express the mingled 

 feelings with, which I receive this honourable distinction. When a 

 few days since I was told that it had been proposed to the Council, 

 by yourself, Sir, I believe, that the Medal should be awarded to me, 

 my first impression was surprise that I should be considered by any 

 one worthy of an honour which only last year had been bestowed 

 on my illustrious friend the author of the ' Principles of Geology,' and 

 two years before on the equally eminent author of Siluria. But 

 when the announcement was officially made to me by you that the 

 Council had been pleased by a unanimous vote to select me as the 

 medallist of the year, all feehngs were merged in one of gratitude 

 to yourself, Sir, and the other members who had taken so generous 

 and favourable a view of the poor services to Geology, in times long 

 past, of an old associate who might well suppose that he had faded 

 from the recollection of the younger generation of geologists. This 

 last consideration, however, only makes me the more indebted to 

 the Society, of which I have been so long an unworthy member, for 

 this superabundant recognition of my early labours in the pursuit 

 of our science. 



AWAED or THE WOLLASTOIS- DONATION -EUND. 



The President then addressed Sir Eodeeick I. Mtjrchison, Bart., 

 K.C.B., &c., as follows :— 



Sir EoDEEiCK Mtjechison, — In the absence of Mr. Baily, one of 

 the geologists under your direction, who is at present occupied by 

 his duties in Ireland, I wiU request you to state to him that, in 

 voting to him the balance of the proceeds of the "Wollaston-fund, 

 the Council felt that, by aiding him to prepare a series of plates of 

 characteristic fossils of the British formations, they would assist in 

 the publication of a work of great utility. The industry and know- 

 ledge which Mr. Baily has manifested during many years of geologi- 

 cal work are a sufficient guarantee for his judicious selection of the 

 most suitable fossils, and for the fidelity of their representation ; and 

 I am confident that his book, as an addition to Morris's catalogue, 

 will fill a gap which has been much felt, especially by students and 

 field geologists who are deprived of access to large libraries. 



Sir E. I. Mtjechison, replied as follows : — 



Mr. President,— In receiving for Mr. Baily the award of the 

 Council, I must say that it has been made in strict adherence to the 

 express wishes of the eminent Wollaston himself ; for by this act we 

 help the recipient to complete a highly useful work on Palaeontology 

 on which he is engaged. I will only add that whilst my deserving 

 friend Mr. Baily is rich in fossil lore, and, I may add, in children, he 

 is, like too many men of science, poor in sovereigns ; and hence the 

 meeting wiU agree with me that this purse has been most justly 

 bestowed. 



