Royal Astronomical Society. 223 



evidence, as distinct from bare suspicion or surmise that such a fact 

 exists, or that such a proposition is true — if I am right in assigning 

 as the moment of discovery, that moment when the discoverer is 

 first enabled to say to himself, or to a bystander, " I am sure that 

 such is the fact, — and I am sure of it, for such and such reasons," 

 reasons subsequently acquiesced in as valid ones when the discovery 

 comes to be known and acknowledged — if, I say, I am right in this 

 principle (and I really can find no better), then I think the discovery 

 of this satellite must be considered to date from the 19th of Septem- 

 ber last, and to have been made simultaneously, putting difference 

 of longitude out of the question, on both sides of the Atlantic. In 

 speaking thus, I desire, of course, to be understood as expressing 

 only my own private opinion, and in no way as backing that opinion 

 by the authority of the Society whose chair I for the moment occupy. 

 The Astronomical Society receives with equal joy the intelligence of 

 advances made in that science from whatever quarter emanating, 

 and accords the meed of its approbation to diligence, devotion, and 

 talent, with equal readiness wherever it finds them — but declines 

 entering into nice questions of personal or national priority, and 

 would, 1 am sure, emphatically disavow the assumption of any title 

 to lay down authoritative rules for the guidance of men's judgements 

 in such matters. The medal of this day is awarded to Mr. Lassell, 

 not on account of this discovery alone, and as such, but as taken in 

 conjunction with the many other striking proofs he has afforded of 

 successful devotion to our science — both in the improvement and 

 in tlie use of instruments. And among the motives which have 

 induced your Council to place Professor Bond on the list of our 

 Associates (1 trust not long to be the only one of his countrymen 

 by whom that honour is enjoyed), though this discovery has had its 

 due and just weight, we liave not been unheedful of his general 

 merits, both as an observer and as a theoretical astronomer — merits 

 of which the Memoirs which have recently reached us convey the 

 most abundant evidence in both departments. 



I have observed that, when taken in all its relations, the discovery 

 of an eighth satellite of Saturn cannot be regarded as quite an insu- 

 lated fact. Between lapetus and Titan there existed a great gap 

 unfilled, in which (as formerly between Mars and Jupiter) it was 

 not in itself unlikely that some additional member of the Saturniaii 

 system might exist. The extreme minuteness of Hyperion forcibly 

 recals the analogous features of the asteroids, and it would be very 

 far from surprising if a further application of the same instrumental 

 powers should carry out this analogy in a plurality of such minute 

 attendants. 



Mr. Lassell, as you are all well aware, is bound to astronomy by 

 no other tie than the enjoyment he receives in its pursuit. But in 

 our estimation of his position as an amateur astronomer it must not 

 be left out of consideration, that his worldly avocations are such as 

 most men consider of an engrossing nature, and which entitle them 

 in their moments of relaxation, as they conceive, to enjoyments of 

 a very different kind from those which call into fresh and energetic 



