30 proceedings op the geological societr. 



Award of the Wollaston Medal. 



In handing the Wollaston Grold Medal to Mr. Waringtox W. 

 Smyth, F.E.S., for transmission to Prof. A. L. 0. Des Cloizeaux, 

 the President addressed him as follows ; — 



Mr. Warington Smyth, — 



In the absence, which we much regret, of Prof. Des Cloizeaux, I 

 must request you to transmit to him this Medal. 



Geology is the child of two parents, — mineralogy and biology. If 

 we look to the latter to bid the dry bones and buried relics of or- 

 ganisms once more live, we appeal to the former to disclose the 

 nature and constitution of the earth's framework whereon they 

 flourished. It is therefore only just that our Society should seek 

 opportunities of acknowledging the aid which we receive from mine- 

 ralogists ; and it would be difficult to find one on whom this Wol- 

 laston Medal could be more fitly conferred than on Prof. Des Cloizeaux. 

 To enumerate the papers which he has written would be a formidable 

 task ; they numbered 141, so long as fourteen years ago ; what, 

 then, must be the present total ? I may, however, point, in passing, 

 to his admirable ' Manuel de Mineralogie,' and allude, as moie 

 directly bearing on the work of this Society, to his papers on the 

 classification of hyperites and euphotides, on the geysers of Iceland, 

 on the action of heat upon the position of the optic axes in a mineral, 

 and the numerous memoirs on tHe distinction of minerals by their 

 optical properties, especially those relating to microcline, and to 

 other species of felspar, of the importance of which students of 

 microscopic petrology are daily more sensible. I esteem it a great 

 honour to be the means of carrying into effect the award of the 

 Council by placing in your hands, to be transmitted to Prof. Des 

 Cloizeaux, the Wollaston Medal, founded "to promote researches 

 concerning the mineral structure of the earth." 



Mr. Wartngton" W. Smyth, in reply, said : — 

 Mr. President, — 



It is, Sir, with more than ordinary satisfaction that I am privileged 

 to receive for, and to transmit to. Prof. Des Cloizeaux the Medal 

 founded by Dr. Wollaston. No one can fail to appreciate the ap- 

 propriateness of this award when we consider the researches into the 

 physical characters of minerals which have contributed so much to 

 the petrological branch of our science, in which you. Sir, have taken 

 so prominent a part. But it is more especially in the wide and suc- 

 cessful application of Wollaston's invention of the Eeflection Gonio- 

 meter that Des Cloizeaux has attained so deserved an eminence, 

 following closely upon the steps of Prof. Miller, to whom, in his 

 admirable manual, he pays so high a compliment. The Society will 

 regret to learn that Prof. Des Cloizeaux has been prevented b^^ do- 

 mestic anxieties from being present to-day. 



