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Dr Turner. The present is only the second occasion, and after an 

 interval of twenty-one years, that the prize has been assigned for a 

 chemical paper. I do not know what the chemists have been about 

 in the interval, but it is to be hoped that they may now be stimulated 

 by Dr Anderson's successful example. 



It is usual for one in my present position to give some account of 

 the researches for which the prize has been adjudicated by the Council. 

 This, however, I will, I daresay, be excused for not attempting. The 

 papers — for they are two in number — are on " the Products of the De- 

 structive Distillation of Organic Substances," and on " the Crystalline 

 Bodies obtained from Opium." I find it impossible to give an ade- 

 quate analysis of these papers which would not be too tedious for 

 delivery now. In fact, they are scarcely capable of abbreviation, and 

 must be perused in their entire state, in order to be followed. In 

 the course of his experiments on both subjects, Dr Anderson has 

 examined a great many bodies previously known, and discovered 

 others of great scientific interest, and ascertained the composition of 

 all, notwithstanding that they are all of great complexity. I must 

 be satisfied with merely informing that great proportion of his fel- 

 low-members who may find it difficult to follow his elaborate re- 

 searches, that they belong to the most recondite and difficult de- 

 partment of chemical analysis. It has happened that, with only 

 one or two exceptions, the Keith Prize has been assigned to 

 authors who have not only written each a paper of high merit, 

 but have likewise contributed many others of value to our pro- 

 ceedings. So it is in the present instance. Dr Anderson, when 

 a very young chemist, communicated to the Royal Society his first 

 paper in 1842, only one year after his graduation, on the analysis of 

 two zeolitic minerals ; and we have been favoured by him with 

 many other excellent researches since. But his last are the most 

 elaborate and productive. 



I have said that both topics of these papers belong to the 

 most recondite branch of chemical analysis. There are not want- 

 ing people who regard such difficult inquiries slightingly, because 

 they do not lead to any apparent practical results of importance. 

 You will hear such recondite researches characterized as difici- 

 les nugce, and very lightly esteemed accordingly. But in these 

 days no one who respects himself will fall into so gross an 

 error. Dr Anderson's researches are all concerned with great che- 



