46 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIEXr. 



ever with nature should spend much time on the Yorkshire coast 

 without hecoming more or less of a geologist, and for my own part 

 I drifted almost unconsciously into these studies in my boyhood, 

 and have ever since found therein my hap^ncst and healthiest 

 recreation. My pleasure in them is now redoubled by this proof 

 that the time so happily spent has also been spent usefully. 



I thank you, and hope that, as a coastguard in the service of 

 science, I may still occasionally be able to send to headquarters 

 reports which may contain some items of interest. 



AWAED OF THE BiGSBY MeDAL. 



The Pkesident then handed the Bigsby Medal, awarded to Dr. Geo. 

 M. Dawson, F.G.S., of Ottawa, to Dr. Hicks, F.Pt.S., for transmission 

 to the recipient, and addressed him as follows : — 



Dr. HiCKs, — 



In asking j'ou to transmit the Bigsby Medal to Dr. George M. 

 Dawson, I request you to convey to him at the same time an assurance 

 of how fully the Council appreciates the value of his researches into 

 the geological structure of Canada, and how cordially we hope that 

 he may live long to prosecute the explorations which have shed so 

 much lustre on the Geological Survey of his native country. 



Dr. HiCKS, in reply, read the following communication, received 

 by him from Dr. Dawson : — 



" Mr. President, — 



*' I have to express my high appreciation of the honour which 

 you and the Council of the Geological Society have conferred upon 

 me in the award of the Bigsby Medal. 



" I regret that my official duties at the present time render it 

 impossible for me to be present in person at the Anniversary 

 Meeting to assure the Society of the high esteem in which I hold 

 this mark of recognition. 



" My field of geological work has lain chiefly in the farther 

 "Western, and as yet imperfectly known, portions of the Dominion of 

 Canada, and much of the work itself has been of an exploratory 

 character, and only occasionally, and then to a limited extent, pre- 

 cise or finished. Work of this class, though necessary in the first 



