part 2] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IV 



THE ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, 



Albert Charles Seward, Sc.D., F.R.S. 



During- the past year the Society has lost three Foreign 

 Members, Prof. Capellini, Prof. Issel, and Dr. Reusch. The 

 tragic circumstances of the death of Dr. Reusch add poignancy to 

 our sense of the grievous loss which Geology has suffered. For 

 the obituary notice of Prof. Capellini I am indebted to our 

 Foreign Secretary, Sir Archibald Geikie, for that of Dr. Reusch to 

 Dr. A. Harker, and for the notice of Prof. Issel to Dr. A. Smith 

 Woodward. We have also lost one Foreign Correspondent, 

 Prof. Theodor Liebisch. I have further to record the death of 

 twenty-nine Fellows. I take this opportunity of thanking for 

 their kind assistance those Fellows whose initials are appended to 

 the obituary notices. 



By the death of Giovanni Capellini on May 28th, 1922, 

 Italy was deprived of her most prominent geologist. Born at 

 Spezia in 1833, he was early led to interest himself in the rocks of 

 that picturescpae district. After studying natural histoiy at the 

 University of Pisa, he was eventually appointed to the Professor- 

 ship of Geology at Bologna, which he held with distinction to the 

 end of his life. He devoted himself to the investigation of the 

 geology and palaeontology of the Appennine chain, and to the 

 formation of a Museum in which the principles of geology were 

 illustrated b} r specimens gathered from a wide field of observation, 

 not only in Italy but in foreign countries. Besides availing 

 himself of the geological riches of the eastern slopes of the 

 Appennine chain, so conveniently reached from Bologna as a 

 centre, he was ultimately led to pass his summer retreat at Spezia, 

 whence he studied the western side of the great mountain-mass. 

 He specially worked out the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the 

 Infra-Lias, embodying his researches in an important memoir. 

 He also brought to light the volcanic rocks of the province of 

 Pisa. Capellini was perhaps more widely known personally among 

 the geologists of the world than any other cultivator of the 

 science. Not only did he travel widely, but for many years he 

 Avas one of the most constant supporters of the International 

 Geological Congress. He had taken an active part in the forma- 

 tive meeting of that body held at Bologna in 1881, and he 



