12 On the Distribution of the 



Mr. Dalton, with whom I am utterly unacquainted. I am told 

 that some of his meteorological papers rise above mediocrity, 

 and that he is reserved and sagacious ; that his mind is stored 

 with important knowledge, which, either through indolence or 

 modesty, or both, he is prevented from producing to the world. 

 But these are matters little relevant to our present discussion. 

 — His New System of Chemical Philosophy I have read and 

 studied ; upon its disclosures we find his present claims are 

 founded, and to it we must refer as the standard of his ori- 

 ginality in discovery, and of his title to the high distinction 

 which has just been conferred upon him. I say high distinc- 

 tion, because, in the present case, there is something more than 

 the mere reward of an honorary medal. It is a medal 

 of Royal foundation ; it is now presented for the first time ; 

 and a kind of precedent is established, upon which future Pre- 

 sidents and Councils may act. It is, moreover, a distinction 

 conferred, not by a Society of to-day's creation, nor by an as- 

 sembly of artisans, nor by a school of mechanics, but by one of 

 the most ancient and respectable scientific bodies of Europe; so 

 that the fame thereof will go abroad, and will be sounded even 

 in the remotest corners of the earth. These are circumstances 

 which should have been well weighed and cautiously consi- 

 dered, by the bestowing parties; and, instead of obsequiously 

 adopting, as I fear they have, the biassed suggestions of some 

 one or twx) prejudiced individuals, they should have met the 

 case with manly and open independence, and, shaking off all 

 the prejudice of party, and all the petty jealousies of rivalry, 

 should have acted with fearless integrity up to the motto : — 

 *' Palmam qui meruit, fer at. ^^ 



I read, in your last Journal, " that the Council awarded the 

 first prize to Mr. John Dalton, of Manchester, for the deve- 

 lopment of the chemical theory of definite proportions, usually 

 called the Atomic Theory," and the President afterwards 

 alludes to Higgins, Richter, Wollaston, Gay-Lussac, Prout, 

 and some others, of minor notoriety, as labourers in that vine- 

 yard, of which Mr. Dalton is recognised as lord and master. 



From the above statement, hoAvever, so little is to be ga- 

 thered, that I must endeavour to form some more exact scale 

 by which I may safely measure his pretensions, and satisfac- 



