316 Linnean Society. [Jan. 8, 



Fellow of the said Society who shall write the best communi- 

 cation in each volume which after his (the testator's) decease 

 shall be published by the said Society, in either of the four de- 

 partments of Natural History,' it is inexpedient to accede to the 

 liberal intentions of the testator under the conditions expressed 

 in his will.' 



' That this Resolution be submitted to a Special Meeting of 

 the Society,' 

 " This Resolution, which has received the entire concurrence of the 

 President and of every Member of the Council, was chiefly founded 

 on the following considerations : — 



" The great object of the Liiinean Society, as of all other bodies 

 similarly constituted, is the production and publication of such essays 

 as tend to the advancement of that branch of science which it culti- 

 vates. The principal question therefore in reference to Mr. Rudge's 

 bequest, is the manner in which its acceptance would operate on the 

 Society's publications, and the Council has arrived at the conclusion 

 that its tendency would be prejudicial rather than favourable ; inas- 

 much as while the Medal would offer no inducement to some of those 

 Members who have hitherto been in the habit of communicating 

 papers which have had a place In the ' Transactions,' they might, 

 on the contrary, be unwilling to submit their future communications 

 to this new ordeal ; and it does not appear probal)le that the Medal 

 would prove a stimulus to the production of more valuable Essays 

 from any other class of the Society. On the other hand, it is pro- 

 bable that dissatisfaction would arise in the minds of some of those 

 Members, who after contributing papers to more than one volume of 

 the ' Transactions,' should fail in obtaining the award of a Medal. 



" A second objection to the acceptance of the bequest arises from 

 the absence of any discretionary power of withholding the Medal, 

 which Is necessarily to be awarded to the best paper in every volume, 

 and consequently to papers of very unequal value, thereby lowering 

 the character of the Medal, and consequently affecting the scientific 

 reputation of the Society itself. 



" Differences of opinion, and consequent dissatisfaction, would also 

 be not unlikely occasionally to arise in deciding upon the compara- 

 tive merits of papers in botany and zoology, the two branches of 

 natural history, of which, for many years past, the Transactions of 

 the Society have exclusively consisted. 



" Another point may still be noticed as decidedly unfavourable to 

 the acceptance of the bequest, namely, the not improbable award of 

 the Medal by the Council, in some cases to one of Its own body, in 



