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mittee and Council on all occasions. The best proof, perhaps, to 

 this effect is that their award, so far as I am aware, has never been 

 subjected to challenge in the public prints ; nor have I ever heard 

 it criticised even in private society. A still more satisfactory proof, 

 as some may think, is the eminence of the men to whom the prize 

 has hitherto been awarded. The first was awarded in 1828 to Sir 

 David Brewster; the next to Mr Graham, now Master of the 

 Mint ; Sir David Brewster then received it a second time ; our 

 much esteemed secretary, Professor Forbes, has been twice simi- 

 larly honoured ; another was awarded to Mr Scott Russell for his 

 researches on the " Wave-theory ;" another to Mr Shaw for his 

 experiments on the development and growth of the salmon, which 

 have yielded since most important practical results ; another to 

 our revered president— whose duty I am now, in his unavoidable 

 absence, inadequately discharging — for his laborious and munificent 

 "Magnetical Observations;" and the last awards were to Profes- 

 sor Kelland and Mr Macquorn Bankine for elaborate and import- 

 ant mathematical investigations. I do not state these facts for the 

 sake of taking any credit to the Council for the discharge of a duty, 

 but in order that Dr Anderson himself, as well as his fellow-mem- 

 bers of this Society, may duly appreciate that gentleman's honour- 

 able exertions, which have yielded results entitling him to be simi- 

 larly rewarded on the present occasion, and to be associated with 

 such predecessors. 



Among the previous awards I may be permitted, I hope, to 

 advert to certain circumstances connected with the last adjudica- 

 tion of the Keith Prize for a chemical paper — namely, to Mr 

 Graham in 1834, for his admirable researches on the "Law 

 of the Diffusion of Gases." For it was this paper, and in some 

 measure the reading of it in this Society, which laid the foundation of 

 his fortunes. The paper excited intense interest at the time in the 

 Society, both among scientific members and others ; and his name in 

 consequence became well known to many. It may not perhaps 

 be known to Mr Graham himself, but when he was a candidate for 

 the chair of chemistry in University College, London, reference 

 was made by the College authorities to several Fellows of this So- 

 cietv ; and I have reason to know that the unanimous opinion, 

 greatly deduced from his paper, and expressed in reply to these 

 inquiries, had much to do with his appointment to succeed the late 



