ANNIVERSARY MEETING MURCHISON GEOLOGICAL FEND. 33 



and prosper :" and this medal shows that I have so far done so. It 

 is now more than half a century since I was admitted a Fellow of 

 this Society, just before I went to college, and I know that some 

 hesitation, and very properly, was felt whether I should take up 

 geology to any good or useful purpose. But my kind proposer 

 Mr. Clift, the able Curator of the College of Surgeons, to whom I 

 was well known, and where I often went as a student, would not 

 give me up ; and this proof of the Society's favour just received shows 

 that he was not altogether mistaken. 



In my younger days, when I resided in London, I was a regular 

 attendant at the meetings of this Society, then held in Somerset 

 House, where I was a humble but (I hope) not inattentive listener 

 to the papers read and the discussions which followed, and I recall 

 with pleasure the many intellectual combats between the geological 

 giants of those days. . I regret that distance from London and the 

 higher duties of my profession prevent my attending our meetings 

 so often as I could wish; but though now a septuagenarian, I am 

 thankful to say that I can still hammer the rocks, and that my zeal 

 and love for the noble science we all love so well has not abated : 

 but I fear I shall not be able to do much more to elucidate their 

 history, though, if younger, this Medal would encourage me to make 

 still further efforts ; and my chief regret is that, for reasons stated, I 

 have not been able to do more to deserve the honour which the 

 Society has kindly conferred upon me. I can only hope that the 

 Society will pardon me for saying so much about myself. 



Award of the Murchison Geological Fund. 



In handing the Balance of the Proceeds of the Murchison Geo- 

 logical Fund to Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., for transmission to 

 Mr. Robert Kidston, F.G.S., the President said : — 



Dr. "Woodward, — 



The Balance of the Murchison Fund has been awarded by the 

 Council of the Geological Society to Mr. Kidston, to aid him in his 

 important investigations among the fossil plants of the Palaeozoic 

 periods. Mr. Kidston's great knowledge of the extensive literature 

 and the complicated synonymy of these forms is borne witness to 

 by the valuable catalogue which he has prepared under your super- 

 intendence, and which was issued only a few months ago by the 

 Trustees of the British Museum ; a large number of remarkable 

 memoirs have also shown his capacity for dealing with this difficult 

 and intricate subject. In seeking to extend our knowledge of the 

 earliest forms of plant-life, Mr. Kidston seems determined to leave 

 no museum un visited and no stone unturned, if perchance it should 

 be found to exhibit any traces of an ancient vegetation. I will ask 



vol. xliii. d 



