62 GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES of the society’s library Coeval with the society, by 1826, the library contained 1072 volumes and many pamphlets and maps, and substantial annual growth has continued to the present day Today the library houses one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of geological literature The library is much consulted by the Fellows and by a wide range of individuals having need of geological information The library is the society’s proudest possession The great majority of papers read to the society have been published in one or other of the society’s periodicals These include the Transactions of the Geological Society of London (1811–56), the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London (1826–45), the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London (1845–1970), and, since 1971, the Journal of the Geological Society, which appears bimonthly Among the thousands of papers published by the society, highlights include the work by William Henry Fitton (1780–1861) on the geology of the opposed coasts of France and England (1826); (Sir) Henry De La Beche (1796–1855) on the geology of Jamaica (1827); Louis Agassiz (1807–73) on the glacial theory (1840); Henry Clifton Sorby (1826–1908) on the microscopical structure of Yorkshire grits (1850); Joseph Beete Jukes (1811–69) on the geomorphology of the south of Ireland (1862); Charles Lapworth (1842–1920) on the Moffat Series (1877); Benjamin Neeve Peach (1842–1926) and colleagues on the northwest highlands of Scotland (1888); Arthur Vaughan (1868–1915) on the stratigraphy of the Bristol region (1904); (Sir) Edward Battersby Bailey (1881–1965) and colleagues on the cauldron subsidence of Glen Coe (1909); Owen Thomas Jones (1878–1967) on the evolution of a geosyncline (1938); and John Frederick Dewey (1937–present) on the development of the South Mayo Trough (1962) Since 1831, the society has added another important spoke to the wheel of its activities, by assuming a leading role within the reward system of the international community of the earth sciences This was first possible when, on 10 December 1828, the society’s council learned that William Hyde Wollaston (1766–1828), a mineralogist and a member and Fellow of the society since 1812, had left to the society the sum of £1000, the income from the investment to be used ‘‘in aiding or rewarding the researches of any individual or individuals, of any country’’ Further, Wollaston enjoined the society not to hoard the income, but to strive to make an award every year The council resolved to bring into being a medal to be struck in gold (the medal has also been struck in palladium, a metal discovered by Wollaston), and the first of the long line of Wollaston Medals was awarded to William Smith on 18 February 1831 Since 1835, one or more Wollaston Medals have been awarded every year, and the medal is today recognized as the premier award within the world of geology The roll of the medal’s recipients glitters with distinction, as the following sample of recipients reveals: Louis Agassiz, 1836; Charles Darwin, 1859; Sir Charles Lyell, 1866; James Dwight Dana, 1872; Eduard Suess, 1896; Grove Karl Gilbert, 1900; Albert Heim, 1904; Baron Gerard Jacob de Geer, 1920; Reginald Aldworth Daly, 1942; Arthur Holmes, 1956; Alfred Sherwood Romer, 1973; John Tuzo Wilson, 1978 When Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792–1871) died, he left to the society a bequest sufficient to endow the annual award of a Murchison Medal, and at the death of Sir Charles Lyell (1797–1875), a similar bequest allowed the endowment of a Lyell Medal Today the Wollaston, Murchison, and Lyell medals, together with sundry other younger awards placed within the gift of the society, are all made at the President’s Evening of the society held early in May each year Other Geological Societies The young Geological Society of London aspired to a standing that was national, if not international, but it speedily became the prototype for other more local geological societies that soon began to arise in many parts of the British Isles Several of these societies of lesser ambition were rooted in regions where a nearby mining industry imparted to geology an especial significance The following represent the principal British and Irish geological societies founded during the nineteenth century, in imitation of the Geological Society of London: The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (1814), the Geological Society of Dublin (1831; restyled the Royal Geological Society of Ireland in 1864), the Edinburgh Geological Society (1834), the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire (1837; after 1877, the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society; after 1905, the Yorkshire Geological Society), the Manchester Geological Society (1838; after 1903, the Manchester Geological and Mining Society), the Dudley and Midland Geological Society (1842; refounded as the Dudley and Midland Geological and Scientific Society and Field Club in 1862), the Geologists’ Association (1858), the Geological Society of Glasgow (1858), the Liverpool Geological Society (1859), the Norwich Geological Society (1864), and the Hull Geological Society (1888) One other British foundation merits mention At York in 1831, there was established the British Association for the Advancement of Science, based, somewhat, on the model of the German Gesellschaft Deutscher