44 
PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [May  1 893. 
especially  from  Dr.  H.  Woodward,  we  "have  received  the  very  greatest 
encouragement  in  our  work. 
You,  Sir,  have  crowned  our  labours  to-day,  by  your  generous 
approval  and  the  stamp  of  the  ‘  Lyell  Award.’ 
Award  oe  the  Bigsby  Medal. 
In  handing  the  Bigsby  Medal,  awarded  to  Prof.  W.  J.  Sollas, 
D.Sc.,  LL.D.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  to  Mr.  J.  J.  H.  Teall,  M.A., 
F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  for  transmission  to  the  recipient,  the  President 
addressed  him  in  the  following  words  : — 
Mr.  Teall, — 
The  Council  have  awarded  to  Prof.  Sollas  the  Bigsby  Medal  in 
acknowledgment  of  his  continued  researches  on  the  morphology 
and  mineral  constitution  of  the  Possil  Sponges.  Fifteen  years  have 
elapsed  since  a  President  of  this  Society,  in  presenting  him  with  the 
balance  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Wollaston  Donation  Fund,  expressed 
a  belief  that  he  would  continue  to  benefit  Palaeontological  Science 
by  his  researches  on  these  obscure  forms  of  life.  That  those 
anticipations  have  been  fully  realized  the  important  character  of 
Prof.  Sollas’s  subsequent  work  in  this  direction  most  clearly  proves. 
But  it  is  not  in  Palaeontology  alone  that  he  has  evinced  his  interest 
in  Geological  Science,  as  his  paper  on  the  Silurian  district  of 
Rhymney  and  other  contributions  to  the  geology  of  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  Bristol  serve  to  demonstrate.  Nor  have  his  efforts  relaxed 
since  he  became  Professor  of  Geology  and  Mineralogy  in  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Dublin,  as  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society 
and  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  can  testify.  We  recognize  the  philo¬ 
sophical  biologist  in  his  memoir  on  the  Origin  of  Freshwater  Faunas, 
and  the  mineralogist  and  chemist  in  his  contributions  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  Granites  of  Leinster.  It  is  satisfactory  to  reflect  that  one 
who  has  done  so  much  and  in  so  many  ways  for  science  is  still 
sufficiently  young  to  receive  the  Bigsby  Medal,  and,  should  he  happily 
be  spared,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  still  higher  honours 
may  await  his  efforts. 
