130 Royal Society. 



After having settled that part of the business, and apprized the 

 King of my success, I then ventured to petition His Majesty for the 

 continuance of that protection and munificence which the Royal So- 

 ciety had ever experienced from His Illustrious Predecessors. The 

 Sovereign, with that just and enlightened zeal for the promotion of 

 every object allied with the honour and prosperity of this country, 

 which as a loyal subject I acknowledge with gratitude, while as an 

 affectionate brother I recognise it with pride, acceded at once to my 

 request, accepted the charge devolved upon him by the demise of 

 the late King, and ordered, in consequence, that a fresh die should 

 be cut, and that his effigy should form the obverse side of the 

 medal. This work also is completed. All the dies have been exe- 

 cuted by Mr. Wyon with such boldness of outline, depth, and deli- 

 cacy of finish, as do hini the highest credit : and I trust that the 

 medals will be considered in every way worthy of the exalted rank 

 and dignity of the Illustrious Personage in whose name this mark of 

 Royal favour is intended to be conferred. 



I am well aware tbat a diversity of opinion exists respecting the 

 advantages which are likely to be conferred upon Science by a fre- 

 quent distribution of medals. It is said that they must either con- 

 firm or contradict the judgement which has been either already pro- 

 nounced, or which posterity will most certainly hereafter pronounce, 

 upon the merits, pretensions, and influence of the discoveries or 

 series of investigations which such medals are designed to comme- 

 morate : that in the first case they can confer no additional ho- 

 nour upon their author, whose rank has already been ascertained 

 and fixed by the sentence of a higher tribunal, while, in the second, 

 they can only tend to compromise the character of the scientific 

 body by whose advice they are conferred. It is true that I would 

 not claim infallibility for the united judgement of any association, or 

 of any body of men, however eminent their scientific rank may be : 

 but it is the peculiar privilege of the great masters of Science, (and 

 more particularly so when acting or speaking as a body,) to be able 

 to anticipate, though not without the possibility of error, the de- 

 cision of Posterity, and thus to offer to the ardent cultivator of Sci- 

 ence that highest reward of his labours, as an immediate and well 

 assured possession, which he might otherwise be allowed silently 

 and doubtingly to hope for, but never be permitted to see realized : 

 and though some powerful minds might be content to entrust the 

 complete developement of their fame to the fulness of time, and might 

 pursue their silent labours under the influence of no other motives 

 but such as are furnished by their love of truth, the gratification de- 

 rived from the discovery of the beautiful relations of abstract science, 

 or from the contemplation of the agency of a Divine Mind in the har- 

 monies and constitution of the physical world, yet it is our duty 

 and business to deal with men as we find them constituted, and to 

 stimulate their exertions by presenting to their view honourable di- 

 stinctions attainable by honourable means ; to assure them that the 

 result of their labours will neither pass unnoticed nor unrewarded ; 

 and that there exists a tribunal to whicli they may appeal, or before 



