150 OrJGIN AND HISTORY OF THE 



Among the incentives and rewards of scientific research employed by the 

 Society are three medals, derived from funds bequeathed or granted for that 

 jjurpose. 1st. The Copley medal, tlie fruit of a legacy bequeathed in 1709 by 

 8ir (iodiVcy Copley, and termed by Sir Humphrey Davy "the ancient olive- 

 crown of the Itoyal Society," being regarded as the most honorable within its 

 gift. Tliis has been annually awarded, with a few intervals, since 1736, in 

 conformity with a resolution then adopted by the Society, " that the medal 

 should be adjudged to the author of the mo?t important scientific discovery or 

 contribution to science, by experiment or otherwise." It cannot but be pecu- 

 liarly gratifying to an American to find that when, in 1753, on the death of the 

 surviving trustee of the legacy, the adjudication devolved on the president and 

 council for the time being, the first award of the medal was made to Dr. 

 Franklin, On this occasion the Earl of j\Iacclesfield, in his address as presi- 

 dent, stated that the council, " keeping steadily in view the advancement of 

 science and uselul knowledge, and the honor of the Society, had never thought 

 of conlining the benefaction within the narrow limits of any particular country, 

 much less of the Society itself." The money value of this medal is five pounds, 

 and it bears as a legend the motto of the Society, KuU'ms in icrha. 2d. The 

 Rumford medal, derived from the interest of a fund of 661,000, given by Count 

 Kumlbrd, in 1796, for the purpose of promoting discoveries in heat and light. 

 This premium is duplicate, consisting of two pieces struck in the same die, the 

 one of gold, the other of silver, and by the terms of the gift is to be awarded 

 "once every second year." The device on this medal is a tripod with a flame 

 upon it, and the inscription from Lucretius, Kosccrc qucB vis ct causa. It is 

 gratifying to note that the first adjudication of this prize was justly made to 

 the founder himself, "for his various discoveries respecting light and heat," 

 while the names of Mains, Fresnel, Melloni, and Biot, among later competitors, 

 show that this, too, is freely accorded to foreign merit. 3d. The Royal medal, 

 Avhieh, again, is du])licate; consisting of two gold medals of the value of lifty 

 guineas each, a beneticence projected by George IV in 1825, thongh not actually 

 realized till the reign of his successor. These medals, bearing on one side the 

 likeness of the reigning monarch, and on the reverse the figure of Sir Isaac 

 Newton, with emblematical accompaniments, are given for such papers only, on 

 important and completed discoveries, as have been presented to the Royal 

 Society, and inserted in their Transactions. Here, also, the distinguished names 

 of Struve, Encke, Mitscherlich, and De Candolle, in the list of recipients, ap- 

 prise us that this recompense has been liberally offered to the competition of 

 all countries. 



The subjects for Avhich these prizes have been awarded are almost too multi- 

 farious for classification, and aftbrd no indifi'erent criterion of the astonishing 

 progress which has been made " since the day when the founders of the Royal 

 Society went forth to collect May dew for its supposed cosmetic virtues, or with 

 the Virgula dirina in search of the hidden treasures of the earth." Yet those 

 early inquirers are i)erhaps not less entitled to honor for the fidelity and hero- 

 ism (for heroism it was at that epoch) with Avliich they adhered to experiment 

 amidst the difiiculties and obscurity which surrounded them, than those who, 

 following them in the nse of the same irresistible instrument, continued to press 

 forward with firmer and more rapid steps in the pursuit of abstract science, as 

 if conscious that in //lat and its applications rested the sole hope for mankind of 

 any leal and sustained progression. Nor can either of the two classes cited 

 justly claim pre-eminence over the intrepid explorers of to-day, who, undeterred 

 by the seemingly exhaustive research to which the heavens and the earth have 

 been subjected, still lift their minds to new and mightier enterprises, and, having 

 encircled the entire globe with observatories and observers, shrink not from 

 grnpj)ling with problems as subtle and inconstant as magnetism or the winds, 

 and vast as the secular movements of suns and constellations. 



