Yol. 6^.~] ANNIVERSARY MEETING MURCHISON MEDAL. xKii 



joined that service formed a new departure in its usages, I have 

 always felt that on no part of my long connexion with the Survey 

 could I look back with more satisfaction than on the arrangements 

 which enabled us to secure your services. You speedily acquired the 

 skill of a practised surveyor, and among the hills of Skye and Rum 

 you had an opportunity of mapping some of the most complicated 

 and deeply-interesting pieces of volcanic geology in this country. 

 Having had from time to time opportunities of visiting you on the 

 ground, I can bear witness both to the bodily vigour and endurance 

 and to the geological enthusiasm and insight with which you 

 climbed crags and peaks on which no geologist had set foot before 

 you. The maps and memoirs which you have produced of these 

 portions of the Inner Hebrides will always remain as a monument 

 of your prowess as a field-geologist and petrographer. 



In handing you this Medal, which bears the honoured name of 

 Murchison, let me wish you, on the part of the Council and of the 

 Society at large, health, leisure, and opportunity, that you may 

 enjoy a long, useful, and distinguished career. 



Mr. Harker replied as follows : — 

 Mr. President, — 



I wish, in response to what you have said, to express my very 

 sincere acknowledgments to the Council for the distinction which 

 they have conferred upon me. The pleasure with which I first 

 received news of this honour has since been enhanced by the 

 knowledge that my gratification is shared by friends and fellow- 

 workers, and it is now crowned by the graceful words with which 

 you have accompanied the presentation. 



In my work in Skye, to which you have made kind reference, it 

 has been my privilege to tread ground rendered classic by the 

 labours of some of the masters of our science ; and I hold it 

 peculiarly appropriate, as it is eminently pleasing to myself, that 

 this mark of the generous appreciation of the Council should be 

 conveyed by one of those my predecessors — by one, moreover, who 

 first directed my steps in a field which he had already made his 

 own. That the work has been a labour of love I need not say to 

 any geologist who has felt the fascination of the West Highlands — 

 least of all, Sir, to yourself. Where the work is its own reward, 

 so flattering a recognition as this might perhaps be deemed an 

 unearned addition. I take leave, however, to regard it as in some 



