The Sedgwick Prize for the best essay on a geological subject was instituted in memory of Adam Sedgwick, the geologist who introduced Darwin to geology in walking tours of north Wales, but later opposed his theories. One of its most eminent winners was A. C. Seward (1863-1941), then a young lecturer in botany at Cambridge. He combined the study of botany with geology in his research on what the age and location of fossilised flora can reveal about...