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tive analogy to the process by which your Council awards the 

 medals. That examination is the most difficult which exists ; the 

 prize is large, and the competition is free. There is a course of 

 mathematics, comprehending, I may say, everything ; a course of 

 physics equally large ; a very large course of moral philosophy ; 

 a course of metaphysics, of logic, classics, history, chronology, and 

 Hebrew. The examination is, of course, public ; and a person of 

 experience, acquainted with the course, can usually at the close 

 of the examination point out the successful candidate. Some 

 have answered better in one science, some in another, but acting 

 under the guidance of a mature judgment, a kind of equitable ad- 

 justment has been made by the bystander, which has led him to the 

 same conclusion as the examiners. Now, let us see for a moment 

 how this has been brought about. The examiners, who are Fellows, 

 are conversant to a certain extent with all the sciences ; and in 

 measuring the value of each answer, they are governed by a well- 

 marked public opinion in the University, precisely as is the case 

 with the enlightened audience ; and they come to the same con- 

 clusion. But with your Council the case is necessarily very dif- 

 ferent. However chosen, they cannot have within themselves the 

 same means of discharging their very difficult duties in a way 

 which will carry with it the full concurrence of the Society. Take 

 as an example the simplest case which can arise : two persons 

 have been proposed for the medal, a chemist and a mathematician. 

 Upon the Council we will presume there is a first-rate chemist 

 and a first-rate mathematician. Now, in chemistry and in mathe- 

 matics, and indeed in all the sciences, little discoveries are very 

 abundant. By what possible means can the chemist bring his 

 mind to bear upon the little discoveries of the mathematician, so as 

 to weigh them, even in the roughest manner, against the discoveries 

 in his own science ? Or will the mathematician be more fortunate 

 in dealing with the discoveries of the chemist ? But how is it with 

 respect to the other members of the Council ? There will probably 

 be gentlemen representing the different branches of the natural 

 sciences, also perhaps a geologist, an astronomer, an engineer. Why, 

 even in the very simple case I have supposed, the elements for the 

 roughest approximation to a true conclusion are not within the 

 Council, and it cannot be otherwise. The Council must therefore 



