t,
Darwin was nominated as a member of the new Council, and he was elected
on February 17th.

The meeting of the Geological Society on April 19th was devoted to the
reading by Owen of his paper on Toxodon, perhaps the most remarkable
of the fossil mammals found by Darwin in South America; and at the
next meeting, on May 3rd, Darwin himself read "A Sketch of the Deposits
containing extinct Mammalia in the neighbourhood of the Plata". The
next following meeting, on May 17th, was devoted to Darwin's Coral-reef
paper, entitled "On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in
the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as deduced from the study of Coral
Formations". Neither of these three early papers of Darwin were
published in the Transactions of the Geological Society, but the
minutes of the Council show that they were "withdrawn by the author by
permission of the Council."

Darwin's activity during this session led to some rather alarming
effects upon his health, and he was induced to take a holiday in
Staffordshire and the Isle of Wight. He was not idle, however, for a
remark of his uncle, Mr Wedgwood, led him to make those interesting
observations on the work done by earthworms, that resulted in his
preparing a short memoir on the subject, and this paper, "On the
Formation of Mould", was read at the Society on November 1st, 1837,
being the first of Darwin's papers published in full; it appeared in
Vol. V. of the "Geological Transactions", pages 505-510.

During this session, Darwin attended nearly all the Council meetings,
and took such an active part in the work of the Society that it is not
surprising to find that he was now requested to accept the position of
Secretary. After some hesitation, in which he urged his inexperience
and want of knowledge of foreign languages, he consented to accept the
appointment. ("L.L." I. page 285.)

At the anniversary meeting on February 16th, 1838, the Wollaston Medal
was given to Owen in recognition of his services in describing the
fossil mammals sent home by Darwin. In his address, the President,
Professor Whewell, dwelt at length on the great value of the papers
which Darwin had laid before the Society during the preceding session.

On March 7th, Darwin read before the Society the most important perhaps
of all his geological papers, "On the Connexion of certain Volcanic
Phenomena in South America, and on the Formation of Mountain-Chains and
Volcanoes as the effect of Continental Elevat