Adjudication of the Wollaston Medal, 31 



members of the Geological society, who owe so much to his 

 labours and genius, to draw Mr. Smith from his retirement, and 

 confer upon him, by common consent, what he could so justly 

 claim to receive ; instead of practising the more calculating 

 policy of opening a door to it for themselves, by his exclusion. 

 Our private letters, from various friends present at the delivery of 

 this medal, speak of the occasion as both impressive and affecting. 

 It was a tribute publicly paid, by some of the most enlightened 

 minds in Europe, to a pre-eminent leader in their science, 

 in his old age. The act itself was, to us, a sufficient proof that 

 English science was not in " a degraded and declining condition.^^ 

 Looking at the wonderful progress geology has of late years 

 made, and assigning their proper share of the merit of advancing 

 this most liberal and attractive pursuit, to the English geologists ; 

 we should be inclined to hold up the progress of science in Eng- 

 land to the admiration of the world. 



We congratulate Mr. Smith most cordially upon the distinc- 

 tion conferred on him. Of a respectable, yet unpretending origin, 

 he has been raised by some generous minds, to the rank of a 

 prince of the order of nature. The thing has been well done. 

 We know and honour the men who have done it, and many a 

 happy day have we geologized with the venerable and amiable 

 man they have delighted to honour. 



In the admirable address of the Rev. Adam Sedgewick, presi- 

 dent of the geological society of London, on the delivery of the 

 Wollaston prize, after recapitulating the interesting history of 

 Mr. Smith's discoveries, we find the following passage touching 

 the difficulty he found in attracting the public attention to his 

 labours. " He suffered, as many men of genius have done before 

 him, in his peace and his fortune, from what, in our estimation, 

 constitutes his chief honour — from outstripping the men of his 

 own time in the progress of discovery." 



We also quote with pleasure, the following eloquent passages. 



" I for one can speak with gratitude of the practical lessons I 

 have received from Mr. Smith : it was by tracking his footsteps, 

 with his maps in my hand, through Wiltshire and the neighbour- 

 ing counties, where he had trodden nearly thirty years before, 

 that I first learned the subdivisions of our oolite series, and 

 apprehended the meaning of those arbitrary and somewhat un- 

 couth terms, which we derive from him as our master, which 



