lxvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I903, 



Baron Henry de Worms, first Lord Pirbright, who was elected 

 a Fellow of this Society in 1861, died in January 1903 at the age 

 of 63. He was born in 1840, and was the third son of Solomon 

 Benedict de Worms, Hereditary Baron of the Austrian Empire. He 

 was educated at Kings College, London, of which he became a 

 Fellow in the year 1863. He was at first intended for the medical 

 profession, but entered as a student at the Inner Temple in 1860. 

 His collegiate career was one of more than ordinary distinction, as 

 he was a good classical scholar, and possessed a mastery of several 

 modern languages. He also attained proficiency in mathematics, 

 and developed a taste for physical science. He devoted some time 

 to the study of cosmology and the various phenomena attendant on 

 the motion of the earth through space, giving the result of his 

 speculations to the world in a work entitled ' The Earth and its 

 Mechanism ' in 1863. In 1885 he was appointed Parliamentary 

 Secretary to the Board of Trade, and in 1888 he became Under 

 Secretary for the Colonies, a post which he retained till 1892. In 

 the same year (1888) he was made a member of the Privy Council, 

 and in 1895 was raised to the peerage. Lord Pirbright resided in 

 his later years mostly at Henley Park, Guildford. 



The Relations op Geology. 



We stand to-day, Gentlemen, at the beginning of a new century. 

 The science of Geology, whose devotees we are, is one of the 

 youngest of the great family of the sciences. The years since first 

 it became conscious of its being are but few in number, and its 

 struggle for existence has from the first been incessant. Yet I 

 doubt not that there are many observers familiar with its history 

 who would assert that ' young as it is in years, it is already old in 

 achievements, and that the roll of its discoveries and the number and 

 extent of its conquests stand almost unrivalled for their far-reaching 

 influence upon the philosophy and the practice of mankind.' 



But it is neither necessary nor dignified on our part here to-day 

 to advance or even suggest this claim. For it is not our self-esteem 

 which prompts our work, or the applause of the world that cheers us 

 in its pursuit. Eather is it the delight in the work itself which 

 animates our labours ; and it is in the sympathy and the appreciation 

 of our fellow-workers that we rejoice when our aim is achieved. To 

 Geology and geologists do we stand or fall. 



