REWARDS AND MEDALS. 307 



possessed by the Royal Society, and which it might 

 naturally have been supposed would be put into the 

 hands of every member, to excite that " compe- 

 tition" which was the express condition upon which 

 some of these medals were founded. 



(214.) It appears, then, that the following means 

 of rewarding merit are possessed by the president and 

 council of the Royal Society. The first are the royal 

 medals, two in number, of the value of fifty guineas 

 each, founded by our late king, to be awarded an- 

 nually as " honorary premiums, under the direction 

 of the president and council, in such a manner as 

 shall, by the excitement of competition among men 

 of science, seem best calculated to promote the 

 object for which the Royal Society was instituted."* 

 The following rules, for the award of these medals, 

 were subsequently decided upon, by the council, on 

 the 26th of January, 1826: — 



Resolved, That it is the opinion of the council that the 

 medals be awarded for the most important discoveries or 

 series of investigations, completed and made known to the 

 Royal Society in the year preceding the day of their award. 

 2. That it is the opinion of the council that the presentation 

 of the medals should not be limited to British subjects ; 

 and they propose, if it should be his Majesty's pleasure, 

 that his effigy should form the obverse of the medal. 3. That 

 two medals from the same die should be struck upon each 

 foundation, one in gold, one in silver. 



(215.) We neither possess the wish nor the means 

 of enquiring how far these honorary rewards have 

 been distributed with justice and impartiality. If what 



* Mr. Secretary Peel's Letter. 



x 2 



