519 



and several others, in all of which is manifested a remarkable capa- 

 city for minute and accurate observation conjoined with great powers 

 of generalization. 



;* But in none of Mr. Hancock's labours are these faculties so 

 eminently displayed as in his more recent investigation of the organ- 

 ization of the Brachiopoda. In his elaborate monograph on this 

 most difficult subject, and of which it may truly be said a more com- 

 plete specimen of minute anatomy has not appeared since the time 

 of Lyonet, a detailed account is given of the whole organization of 

 the Brachiopoda founded upon the laborious dissection of numerous 

 species ; several interesting points in their economy first indicated by 

 Prof. Huxley are confirmed ; many additional facts communicated ; 

 and a new and clear light thrown upon the previously obscure sub- 

 ject of the physiological and systematic relations of the class in 

 general. 



MR. HUXLEY, 



In conveying this Medal to Mr. Hancock, assure him of the great 

 interest we take in his valuable labours, and express our hope that 

 he may be long enabled to prosecute inquiries, from which so much 

 benefit to natural science may reasonably be anticipated. 



Your Council have awarded the other Royal Medal to Mr. William 

 Lassell, for his various astronomical discoveries and researches, and 

 for his skilful construction of several large Reflecting Telescopes, 

 with which such discoveries were made. 



The first of these telescopes, having a speculum of nine inches in 

 diameter, was erected at Starfield near Liverpool in the summer of 

 1840, from which time Mr. Lassell has been a most diligent and 

 successful labourer in the field of astronomical science. Although 

 none of the principal discoveries which entitle him to take rank with 

 the leading astronomers of the day have been made with this instru- 

 ment, still as this was the first large Reflector to which an equatorial 

 mounting was applied, we are justified in looking upon its con- 

 struction as an important step towards that eminence to which its 

 maker has since attained. 



This instrument, however, did not long satisfy Mr. Lassell, for in 

 the year 1846 we find him observing with a 20-foot reflector with 



