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handedness) *o long as they were mixed or combined with inactive 

 substances only, but M. Pasteur found that this is no longer the case 

 when they are combined with active substances, as for example the 

 organic alkaloids, in which case the salts obtained differ widely in 

 solubility, crystalline form, &c. 



It is to the stimulus afforded by the investigations of M. Pasteur 

 that we must ascribe the more recent discovery by M. Marbach, 

 that several crystals belonging to the cubical system possess the 

 power of rotating the plane of polarization. Thus M. Pasteur's 

 original discovery has already begun to bear fruit in discoveries made 

 by others. 



DR. SHARPEY, in the absence of the Foreign Secretary, 

 I request that you will transmit this Medal to M. Pasteur, in 

 testimony of the value which we attach to his brilliant discovery. 



Your Council have awarded one of the Royal Medals to Sir John 

 Richardson. His claims to that honour as a most distinguished 

 naturalist and scientific traveller, will I am sure be generally admitted. 

 Sir J. Richardson's earliest work on Zoology appeared about the year 

 1823, but his first great work was published in 1829, namely the 

 'Fauna Boreali-Americana,' in which he has described the Qua- 

 drupeds and Fishes of the Arctic Regions, and with Mr. Swainson's 

 aid, the Birds ; the merits of this work, in the very accurate descrip- 

 tions of the species, in the great amount of information on their 

 habits and ranges, are admitted to be of the highest order. Since 

 that period Sir J. Richardson has published largely on various 

 branches of zoology, physical geography, and meteorology. His Re- 

 ports to the British Association, on the Fishes of New Zealand and of 

 China, are extremely interesting under many points of view. Another 

 Report to the same body on the General Zoology of North America, 

 is a most valuable contribution to science. His later works, which 

 here must be more particularly considered, are the ' Zoology of 

 the Voyages of the Terror and of the Herald,' in which he has 

 described the Fishes and Reptiles collected during those expeditions, 

 and given an account of some of the great extinct mammifers of the 

 Arctic countries, with very interesting observations on their ancient 

 relations and ranges. He has also lately contributed to the Geolo- 



