302 Proceedings of the Royal Society. 



and to the importance in practical optics of his paper on the 

 aberration of compound lenses and object-glasses ; and having 

 stated to the Society the leading features of these communi- 

 cations, said that he felt convinced they could not but approve 

 of the decision of their Council upon the grounds he had 

 already mentioned, and should therefore not attempt further to 

 expatiate upon the diligence and merits of their author. 



In addressing Mr. Herschel personally, Sir Humphry alluded 

 to several subjects of inquiry which he recommended to Mr. 

 Herschel's attention ; he trusted that he would continue to 

 devote himself to philosophical pursuits, and that he would 

 receive the medal not merely as a mark of respect for acquire- 

 ments already made, but as a pledge of future exertions in the 

 cause of science, and of the Royal Society. " Believe me," he 

 added, " you can communicate your labours to no public body 

 by whom they will be better received, or through whose records 

 they will be more honourably transmitted to the scientific 

 world. And these pursuits, you will find not only glorious, 

 but dignified, useful, and gratifying in every period of life ; 

 this, indeed, you must know best in the example of your 

 illustrious father, who, full of years and of honours, must view 

 your exertions with infinite pleasure, and who, in the hopes 

 that his own unperishable name will be permanently connected 

 in the annals of science with yours, must look forward to a 

 double immortality." 



The President then spoke of the researches of Captain 

 Edward Sabine; he eulogized his industry and perseverance 

 in conducting his inquiries in the Arctic Expedition, and his 

 fortitude and patience in enduring the hardships and privations 

 to which he was then exposed : his experiments he said, were 

 principally conducted on the ice of the polar sea, where the 

 vessel was for several months frozen up ; during a considerable 

 portion of the time, he was in darkness, or only guided by a very 

 doubtful twilight, and the temperature of this inclement spot, 

 probably as cold as any belonging to the northern hemisphere, 

 was such, that the artificial horizon of mercury became frozen 

 during an observation ; yet Captain Sabine's inquiries seem to 



