312 Royal Astronomical Society. 
superintendence was accepted. Not one direction was given, not 
one single condition was imposed, not one syllable was put upon 
record by which failure, had it occurred, could have been thrown 
from the shoulders of one upon those of several. The suggestions 
which Mr. Baily acknowledges himself to have received from men 
of science, whether in or out of the Society, were submitted solely 
to his judgement, as much as if the experiment had been his own 
private undertaking. Consequently, it is just that it should be 
most explicitly acknowledged that all the merit of success lies where 
all the blame of failure would have fallen. But, while I: say this, 
I must also at the same time observe that the disposition to ask 
advice, and to try advice, which has characterized Mr. Baily’s pro- 
gress throughout, has been in no small degree conducive to the 
distinguished character of the result. The Council, when they 
placed in his hands, and at his sole disposal, the public money 
with which they had been intrusted, were well aware that no pains 
would be spared to collect, to compare, and to choose among, the 
best opinions which could be obtained. And while on this subject, 
it is proper to acknowledge the obligations of the Society to Pro- 
fessor Forbes, for the suggestion which overcame the difficulty and 
nearly destroyed the anomalies of the torsion pendulum, and to the 
Astronomer Royal, for his paper on the mathematical theory of 
Cavendish’s Experiment, which will appear as a part of Mr. Baily’s 
Memoir. | 
In the next place, it is necessary, before proceeding to the 
business of the day, to separate most emphatically the conductor 
of the experiment from the able and energetic friend of the Society 
in other respects. If an endowment had been bequeathed for the 
purpose of enabling the Council to give a yearly medal to the 
Member who should have been most active in carrying on the 
ordinary and extraordinary business of the Society, who is there 
that hears me—I speak particularly to those who are, or have been, 
on the Council,—who could positively undertake to say that such 
a medal could, up to this time, have been gained by any one except 
Mr. Baily 2? No doubt we have many among us whose active 
services the Society must most gratefully acknowledge ;—our 
records prove that fact: indeed I think I may venture to say that 
ours has been a fortunate one among societies in the amounts of 
service rendered by individuals. No doubt, again, that the honour- 
able leisure gained by a long attention to business has placed in 
Mr. Baily’s hands a power of serving the Society which most of 
the Fellows do not possess. But this does not alter the fact, 
that he has been, ever since its foundation, identified with its 
progress, and assisting its efforts, in a greater degree than any 
other individual member. I state this now, not to acknowledge 
services which are so perpetually before the minds of all who take 
an interest in us, but to request you, if you can, to forget them for 
a short time, and to look on the experiment before us as if it had 
been the work of a new man, hitherto unknown to the Society, and 
