Yol. 59.] ANNIVERSARY MEETING — PRESTWICH MEDAL. xlv 



In conclusion, permit me to add, that I am deeply moved at this 

 moment by the thought of what the acceptance of the Bigsby Medal 

 on my part involves. There is undoubtedly associated with it a 

 solemn pledge and obligation to prosecute geological research-work 

 still further. If I am spared, Sir, it will be my highest endeavour 

 as well as pleasure and privilege, to follow in the footsteps of those 

 eminent geologists in the distinguished list of recipients of the Medal 

 founded through the generosity of the late Dr. Bigsby, and prove not 

 unworthy of the marked distinction that the Council have conferred 

 upon me this day. 



Award of the first Prestwich Medal. 



The President, in handing the Prestwich Medal, awarded to the 

 Et. Hon. John, Baron Aveburt, P.C., F.E.S., to Prof. T. G. Bonnet, 

 D.Sc, F.E.S., for transmission to the recipient, addressed him in the 

 following words : — 



Prof. Bonnet, — 



Sir John Lubbock, now the Eight Honourable Lord Avebury, 

 P.C., became a Fellow of this Society in 1855. He was one 

 of those who took a warm interest in the question of the antiquity 

 of man, in those early days when it was so much in dispute. He 

 did much to support the new views, not only by a paper in the 

 Natural History Eeview, but also by his work on i Prehistoric Times,' 

 in which that paper was subsequently incorporated. In those days 

 he was closely associated with Sir Joseph Prestwich (who at that 

 time had not yet been called to the professorial chair at Oxford), 

 and, along with Sir John Evans, frequently accompanied him and 

 other Fellows of the Society on geological excursions in France 

 and elsewhere, investigating not only the evidences of the antiquity 

 of man, but other problems of special interest in geology. 



Since then, notwithstanding his numerous public avocations, his 

 important business occupations, and his researches in natural 

 history, both entomological and botanical, he has always retained 

 a lasting attachment to geology. He has evinced this, not 

 only by keeping abreast with its progress, and accompanying 

 its workers in the field, but also in the publication of works on 

 geology, marked by his own literary charm. His recent works 



