ANNIVERSAKT MEETING WOLLASTOX MEDAL. 29 



of its geology would prove of the utmost interest and value. Ac- 

 cordingly in the summer of 1868, instead of turning homewards, he 

 returned to that country, and spent somewhere about three years in 

 a series of journeys through the vast Celestial Empire. The massive 

 volumes and splendid atlas which contain his account of China form 

 one of the most important contributions ever made to geological 

 literature. In every chapter there is some luminous remark or 

 suggestive inference that lights up the formidable array of facts 

 with which the pages are crowded. The description of the Chinese 

 Loess and the manner in which the author works out his explanation 

 of that puzzling formation are a model of geological description. 



As a geologist, a scientific traveller, an exponent of facts, and a 

 generalizer from facts to their connecting causes, Baron von Eicht- 

 hofen stands in the forefront of the science of our day, and in award- 

 ing him the Wollaston Medal this Society does itself as much honour 

 as it seeks to confer on him. When you, Mr. Topley, transmit this 

 Medal to him and express to him our appreciation of his labours, 

 will you also convey to him our personal regard and our hope that 

 he may long be able to continue the work which has rendered his 

 name so illustrious ? 



Mr. Topley, in reply, said : — 



Mr. Peesident, — 



I am desired by Baron von Eichthofen to express his extreme 

 regret that important duties detain him in Berlin, and render it 

 impossible for him to be present here to-day. 



He requests me to offer to this Society his warmest thanks for the 

 honour now conferred upon him, and for placing his name in the 

 list of distinguished geologists to whom this Medal has been awarded. 



In a letter which I have just received Baron von Eichthofen 

 says : — 



" If I were personally present I would not fail to remark that I 

 " am deeply impressed by the consciousness how unfavourably the 

 *' humble work I have been able to accomplish compares with the 

 " honour now conferred upon it ; and that it will be my endeavour 

 " to render myself more worthy of it by never ceasing to work 

 " in the interests of geological and, what is so nearly related to it, 

 " geographical science, my line of research being indeed chiefly in 

 " that field where both these branches of science meet. 



" British geologists have had the largest share in the geological 



