17 



On Boiler Explosions On the Collapse of Tubes under Pressure 

 On the Density of Steam On the. principle of Construction of 

 Iron Ships and on other kindred subjects : many of these being 

 within the period required by the terms of the award of the Royal 

 Medal. Of separate works may be noticed a volume on the Conway 

 and Britannia Tubular Bridges (1849), including his researches on 

 the best form and strength of wrought iron beams. A work * On the 

 Application of Cast and Wrought Iron to Building purposes * (in 

 1854 and 1857), and a valuable compendium entitled " Useful Infor- 

 mation for Engineers," in 1856 and 1860. 



Perhaps it may be said with truth that there is no single individual 

 living who has done so much for practical science, who has made so 

 many careful experimental inquiries on subjects of primary importance 

 to the commercial and manufacturing interests of the country, or 

 who has so liberally contributed them to the world. 



MR. FA.IRBAIRN, 



In presenting this Medal to you from this Chair, I will venture to 

 say that the award of the Royal Medal, the Medal which Her 

 Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to place at the disposal 

 of the President and Council, for scientific services such as yours, so 

 eminently conducive as they have been to the general good, is even 

 peculiarly appropriate. 



A Royal Medal has been awarded to Dr. Augustus Waller, for his 

 investigations into the Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous 

 System, and for the introduction of a valuable method of conducting 

 such investigations. 



Previously to Dr. Waller's inquiries it was known that, when a 

 nerve is cut across, the distal portion, severed from its central con- 

 nexion, undergoes disorganization ; but Dr. Waller was the first to 

 conceive, or at least to make known the idea of employing the section 

 and disorganization of a nerve as a means of tracing out its distribu- 

 tion. In the art of injection anatomists have long possessed a method 

 of following even the finest branches of the blood-vessels ; and in like 

 manner the well-marked alteration in the aspect of a nerve conse- 

 quent on its section and degeneration has been made available by Dr. 

 Waller for identifying and following its ramifications and finest divi- 



VOL. XI. C 



