430 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Dec. 1, 



A Royal Me(M has been awarded to A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S. Pro- 

 fessor Ram say has been for a period of nearly forty years connected with 

 the Geological Survey of Great Britain, and during by far the greater 

 part of that time either as Director or Director- General of the Survey. 

 During this long period in addition to his official labours in advancing 

 our knowledge of the geology of this country, he has published works 

 on the " Geolooy of Arran," "The Geology of North Wales/' "The 

 Old Glaciers of North Wales and Switzerland." and "The Physical 

 Geology and Geography of Great Britain," now in its fifth edition. 

 His papers in the " Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," and 

 elsewhere, are numerous and important, especially those on theoretical 

 questions in physical geology, such, for instance, as " The Glacial 

 Origin of Lake Basins," " The Fresh-water Formation of the Older 

 Red Rocks," and " The History of the Valley of the Rhine, and other 

 Valleys of Erosion." There are, indeed, among living geologists few 

 who can claim to have done more to extend our knowledge in the im- 

 portant fields of geology and physical geography. 



A Royal Medal has been awarded to W. H. Perkin, F.R.S. Mr. 

 William Perkin has been, during more than twenty years, one of 

 the most industrious and successful investigators of Organic Chemistry. 



Mr. Perkin is the originator of one of the most important branches 

 of chemical industry, that of the manufacture of dyes from coal-tar 

 derivatives. 



Forty-three years ago the production of a violet-blue colour by 

 the addition of chloride of lime to oil obtained from coal-tar was 

 first noticed, and this having afterwards been ascertained to be due to 

 the existence of the organic base known as aniline, the production 

 of the colouration was for many years used as a very delicate test for 

 that substance. The violet colour in question, which was soon after- 

 wards^also produced by other oxidising agents, appeared, however, 

 to be quite fugitive, and the possibility of fixing and obtaining in a 

 state of purity the aniline product which gave rise to it, appears not 

 to have occurred to chemists until Mr. Perkin successfully grappled 

 with the subject in 1856, and produced the beautiful colouring matter 

 known as aniline violet, or mauve, the production of which, on a 

 large scale, by Mr. Perkin, laid the foundation of the coal-tar colour 

 industry. 



His more recent researches on anthracene derivatives, especially on 

 artificial alizarine, the colouring matter identical with that obtained 

 from madder, rank among the most important work, and some of 

 them have greatly contributed to the successful manufacture of 

 alizarine in this country, whereby we have been rendered independent 

 of the importation of madder. 



Among the very numerous researches of purely scientific interest 



