252 



travel beyond its limits for the necessary information. Individual 

 members will naturally therefore, in an unofficial way, consult such 

 Fellows not on the Council as are known to be conversant with the 

 particular question at issue ; and, practically, if time permitted and 

 opportunity offered, a large proportion of the ablest Fellows would 

 exercise a guiding influence on the Council, leading them to correct 

 conclusions. Information would even be sought without the So- 

 ciety ; the prevalent opinions at the Universities would be looked 

 for, and the state of public opinion abroad in scientific circles 

 would in many cases have great weight. I need hardly say, that 

 as things are at present, this inquiry is impossible except to a very 

 limited extent, and public opinion, even in our own body, can afford 

 but little of that aid to the Council which it would do under more 

 favourable circumstances. 



If the medals were awarded in June, after discussion in several 

 successive Councils at considerable intervals, while the great body 

 of Fellows, the leading members of the Universities, and the fo- 

 reigners who visit London, were in town, each member of the 

 Council would have immediate access to the best sources of infor- 

 mation. Recently the experiment has been tried of proposing 

 candidates for the medals before the recess, but without, I think, 

 any practical advantage. Where the candidates are numerous, 

 inquiries would be endless ; and it is only when the number has 

 been reduced, when the doubtful questions have been put promi- 

 nently forward by discussion, and a decision is imminent, that in- 

 quiries will be prosecuted with energy, and can be made with 

 effect. 



Finally, experience has shown that even in the transaction of the 

 business of the nation, there is so much inconvenience in running 

 counter to the habits and usages of society, that it is only in a case 

 of necessity that Parliament is assembled in November. 



With these or similar views, the subject was brought before your 

 Council in 1 845 ; and, as was announced by Lord Northampton, it 

 was resolved to change the day of the anniversary to a season more 

 generally convenient. In his Address the year after he states that 

 doubts had arisen as to the legality of the change without a new 

 charter, and no serious effort appears to have been subsequently 

 made to surmount the difficulty. 



