32 



§ VI. Extract from the Report of the Council to the Annual 

 General Meeting, 19th June, 1896, giving a Brief History 

 of the Society. 



"The origin of the Society was mainly due to the prior issue of Sowerby^s 'Mineral 

 Conchology ' of which the first part appeared in June, 1812, and was followed by other parts 

 for over thirty years. The portions of this work were brought out slowly and irregularly, 

 and rarely illustrated more than ten species at one time. During the publication of this 

 contribution to Geological Science an Association was formed (probably iu the year 1836) 

 called the "London Clay Club," the members of which were enthusiastic collectors of the 

 shells of the Tertiary deposits in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. At one of the 

 meetings of the Club, about the year 1845, the late Dr. (then Mr.) J. S. Bowerbank suggested 

 that as the 'Mineral Conchology' at its then rate of issue could not possibly depict all the 

 British Fossils witbin a moderate period, it would be well to have recourse to a new method. 

 A proposal immediately followed that subscriptions should be solicited for a larger and more 

 complete publication. The idea was favorably received, Mr. Sowerby was asked to under- 

 take the copper-plate engraving, and many country geologists were communicated with. In 

 the furtherance of this project Mr. Bowerbank laboured with much zeal and energy, the 

 opinion being that in five-and-twenty years the whole of the British fossils would be figured 

 and described. 



On March 23rd, 1847, a meeting was held at the apartments of the Geological Society, 

 Somerset House, with Sir Henry De la Beche in the Chair, when it was resolved that a 

 Society be constituted, the object of which should be "to figure and describe as completely 

 as possible a stratigraphical series of British fossils.'' The meeting further determined that 

 the Annual Subscription should be One Guinea, that the word " PalEeontographical " should be 

 the name, and that the Society should consist of a President, Treasurer, Secretary, and a 

 Council of sixteen members. On that day Sir Henry De la Beche was elected Pi-esident, 

 Mr. S. V. Wood, Treasurer, and Mr. (afterwards Professor) Morris, Secretary. The members of 

 the first Council were Professor T. Bell, Mr. J. S. Bowerbank, Mr. F. B. Edwards, Sir Philip 

 Egerton, Dr. Hugh Falconer, Dr. W. H. Fitton, Mr. J. W. Flower, Professor Edward Forbes, 

 Mr. S. B. Ibbetson, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Lyell, Professor J. Phillips, Mr. (afterwards 

 Sir) Joseph Prestwich, Mr. D. Sharpe, Mr. James Smith, Mr. N. T. Wetherell, and Mr. 

 Alfred White. Of these one alone survives, viz. Sir Joseph Prestwich.* 



In the May of the same year Mr. Morris sent in his resignation, and Mr. Bowerbank 

 was appointed his successor. 



The first Annual Report was read on 23rd March, 1848, when it was stated that 640 

 names had been forwarded for membership, that 363 subscriptions had been received, and 

 that the first volume, ' The Univalves of the Crag,' by S. V. Wood, Avas ready for delivery. 

 This book contained the earliest list of members, and showed that 568 persons and 30 libraries 

 had been entered on the list at that date. 



On August 14th, 1848, a Report was presented to a special meeting at Swansea (where 

 the British Association was assembled), in which it was mentioned that offers of Monographs 



* Within four ilays after tlie readiuj? of tlie Council Report, Sir Josoph Prestwicli, wlio for some months had been iu 

 failiug health, passed away at tlie age of eighty -four. 



