But these years were fruitful of events interesting to the friends of William Smith. In February, 1831, the Council of the Geological Society of London honoured him by awarding to him the first Wollaston medal; and the terms with which the gift was accompanied render this act on the part of the society and the president extremely memorable. Dr. Wollaston’s services to physical science were well known and duly honoured in his lifetime; geology has felt, and will long feel the benefit of his dying bequest. He invested one thousand pounds in the three per cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, in the joint names of himself and the Geological Society, and directed that after his decease, “the society should apply the dividends in promoting researches concerning the mineral structure of the earth, or in rewarding those by whom such researches should hereafter be made; or in such manner as should appear to the Council of the said society for the time being, conducive to the interests of the society in particular, or the science of geology in general.” He afterwards enjoined the society “not to hoard the dividends parsimoniously, but to expend them liberally, and, as far as might be, annually, in furthering the objects of the trust.” The first year’s income from this fund was appropriated to the acquisition of a die for a medal bearing the head of Dr. Wollaston, and this having been undertaken by Mr. Wyon, the society was prepared in 1831 to fulfil the trust with which they were charged. The council accordingly passed unanimously the following resolutions, Jan. 11, 1831:— “1. That a medal of fine gold, bearing the impress of the head of Dr. Wollaston, and not exceeding the value of ten guineas, be procured with the least possible delay. “2. That the first Wollaston medal be given to Mr. William Smith, in consideration of his being a great original discoverer in English geology; and especially for his having been the first, in this country, to discover and to teach the identification of strata, and to determine their succession by means of their imbedded fossils.” The announcement of this award was made by a congenial spirit. The chair of the Geological Society was then filled by one of its most honoured members, an original thinker and faithful observer, well qualified to appreciate the originality of Mr. Smith’s discoveries, and well acquainted by actual research with their extent and their value. In his address on this occasion, Professor Sedgwick, speaking in the name of the Geological Society, sketched a brief but satisfactory history of Mr. Smith’s career, demonstrated the entire justice of the award of the Council of the Geological Society, and added his personal testimony in favour of Mr. Smith’s claims in terms of no ordinary value.