ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OP THE PRESIDENT. 45 



Universit}'- College, on his retirement from, the chair of Geology, 

 appointed him Emeritus Professor. 



He became a Fellow of this Society in 1845, has more than once 

 served on the Council, and has been one of the Vice-Presidents. I 

 may add that, within my own memory, his own consent alone was 

 wanting to secupe his nomination to the Society as President. In 

 recognition and in aid of his scientific labours, he was awarded the 

 balance of the Wollaston Donation Fund in the years 1842, 1843, 

 1850, and 1852, and the Lyell ^Medal (its first award) in 1876. He 

 took a keen interest in the Geologists' Association, as in every move- 

 ment which aided in furthering an interest in geology, and was 

 its President from 1868 to 1870, and again in 1877 and 1878. It 

 is x^leasant to record that though one of those men of whom we 

 may truly say that in science " he did good by stealth and blushed 

 to find it fame," his services were not unappreciated, both in this 

 and other countries. In the year 1870, a valuable testimonial was 

 presented to him by numerous friends and admirers, and eight 

 years later a second, chiefly subscribed by members of the Geologists' 

 Association. He was elected an honorary member of many scien- 

 tific societies, British and foreign, and in 1878 was admitted to the 

 Freedom and Livery of the Turners' Company of the City of London. 

 A few months later the University of Cambridge, in recognition of 

 his scientific eminence and of the services which he had rendered in 

 editing the Catalogue of Cambrian and Silurian fossils drawn up by 

 the late Mr, Salter, and on other occasions, conferred upon him the 

 honorary degree of Master of Arts. This recognition on the part 

 of a University to which he was especially attracted by ties of 

 private friendship with several of its members, with which also he 

 had been officially connected by acting as deputy for the late Pro- 

 fessor Sedgwick and as one of its examiners, gave Professor Morris 

 the liveliest pleasure, and he indicated his appreciation by placing 

 his name on the boards of St. John's College, selecting that for 

 reasons which may readily be conjectured. 



Professor Morris was a born teacher ; to a memory of extraordinary 

 retentiveness he united a remarkable power of lucid exposition. 

 He was able, even at the shortest notice, to express his ideas simply 

 but clearly, clothing a train of well-connected reasoning in lan- 

 guage often chosen with unusual felicity. Such was his modesty, 

 that it was at times almost necessary to thrust him forward to 

 speak, yet after a few sentences all nervousness seemed to disappear ; 

 the enthusiasm of the speaker began to animate his audience, 

 keeping them enthralled as he poured out the rich stores of his 

 knowledge. His friends were wont to say — and I venture to assert 

 that it is no exaggeration — that he was a walking encyclopedia of 

 geology. This, indeed, I know, that I have never asked him a 

 question — and these were many and various — without obtaining in 

 reply some valuable information. 



The accuracy and retentiveness of his memory were something 

 extraordinary ; not only the names, but the whole history of the 

 specimens which he had collected, and the details of sections which 



