XXXvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 895, 



A WARD OE THE WOLLASTON MeDAL. 



In presenting the Wollaston Medal to Sir Archibald Geieie, 

 D.Sc, LL.D., F.E.S.L. & E., F.G.S., the President addressed him 

 as follows : — 



Sir Archibald Geieie, — 



It is one of the greatest pleasures of rny office to he the medium 

 of the Council in conveying to so distinguished a recipient as your- 

 self the Wollaston Medal — the highest token of appreciation which 

 it is within their power to bestow ; and to assure you, at the same 

 time, of the unanimity of good will and esteem which marks its 

 presentation. 



I find it a most difficult task adequately to express, in a few 

 words, an idea of the great services that you have rendered to Geology, 

 whether as an active worker and observer in the field — for forty 

 years — or as an eloquent and polished literary exponent of the 

 science which we cultivate. 



In 1863 you published not the least important of your Memoirs, 

 ' On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland,' in which 

 you gave the earliest connected account of the various Drift-deposits 

 and chief Glacial features of your native country, and you then 

 advocated the agency of land-ice in the formation of the great 

 accumulations of Boulder Clay and Till. This, and the later surface- 

 changes, with their geologic and historic associations, have ever 

 interested you, — and in your ' Scenery of Scotland' you have ren- 

 dered the subject most instructive and interesting to others also — 

 both by pen and pencil. 



The regions of Skye have always had a peculiar fascination for 

 you. In your earliest contribution to this Society you described 

 the subdivisions and enumerated the fossils of the Lias of that 

 Island. 



Later on your attention became directed to the Volcanic Pocks 

 of the Inner Hebrides. These researches — which were eventually 

 embodied in your great Memoir on ' The History of Volcanic Action 

 during the Tertiary Period in the British Isles ' — will hold a lasting 

 place in geological literature. 



You early studied the microscopic structure of rocks — and the 

 eruptive ejectamenta of different periods engaged your attention. 



Your Memoir on the Carboniferous Volcanic Rocks of the Basin 

 of the Pirth of Forth (1879), — one of the earlier fruits of these 



