1889 - 90 .] 
Meetings of the Society. 
419 
The Neill Prize for 1886-89 was presented to Mr Robert Kidston, 
for his Researches in Fossil Botany. 
Professor James Geikie, on presenting the Prize, said : — 
In Scotland, geological science has been for many years prosecuted 
chiefly in its physical departments. Nor is this to be wondered at 
when one considers the generally unfossiliferous character of Scottish 
rocks, and, on the other hand, the many interesting problems which 
the intricate structure of our country presents. Dr Hutton, the father 
of physical geology, is the characteristic product of such a country 
as this, just as William Smith, the father of historical geology, is 
the typical product of England, with its long and orderly succession 
of fossiliferous systems. The richly fossiliferous Mesozoic and 
Tertiary strata, which occupy so large a part of the sister country, 
are very sparingly developed here. The palaeontologist with us has 
to content himself with much older strata, which, after all, are only 
locally fossiliferous, and with a few meagre representatives of 
younger systems. Limited as are the opportunities for the pro- 
secution of palaeontological research in Scotland, we have yet never 
wanted able investigators in this branch of science. Few of these, 
however, have worked much in the department of fossil botany. 
Doubtless this is largely due to the difficulties that beset the study 
itself. The evidence with which the palaeophytologist has to deal is 
often very hard to understand, and its interpretation demands a 
wider and more profound knowledge of the structure of living and 
extinct forms than is generally required in the study of invertebrate 
palseozoology. When one glances over the contents of a palaeon- 
tological museum, one can readily understand why the study of 
extinct animal life has come to be more assiduously cultivated than 
fossil botany. The contrast between the more or less perfect state 
of preservation of many of the corals, shells, and other invertebrates, 
and the fragmentary character of the plant-remains — the flotsam and 
jetsam of vanished risers, lakes, and seas — is quite sufficient to 
account for the preference that is given to palaeozoology. When a com- 
petent investigator, therefore, devotes himself to the difficult study 
of fossil botany he is deserving of every encouragement; and when 
his researches have resulted in eminent success, they must claim the 
ungrudging appreciation of all who wish well to geological science. 
The researches in which Mr Robert Kidston has been engaged have 
made his reputation amongst geologists everywhere. Trained in 
botanical science by the late Professor Dickson, under whom he 
studied for some years, Mr Kidston took up the somewhat ungrateful 
