1890. J 1',,'xidenCs Address. 475 



tion of the constitution of rosaniline, a most valuable dye-stuff, and 

 the typical member of a very large group of important dyes. 



He is the discoverer of phenylhydrazine, one of the most im- 

 portant of the reagents placed at chemists' disposal within recent 

 years, and he has most exhaustively studied the behaviour of this 

 substance and its congeners. The hydrazines have also been employed 

 by Fischer in preparing indole derivatives, among others, skatole, 

 and the study of a class of substances of considerable physiological 

 importance has thereby been rendered possible. 



During the past seven years Fischer has devoted his attention to 

 the study of the sugars, and has obtained most marvellous results, 

 having succeeded in preparing, by purely artificial methods, the 

 known sugars dextrose and levulose, as well as other isomeric sugars, 

 and having established the relationship of the various members of the 

 glucose group. He has, in addition, determined the constitution of 

 milk-sugar and of starch-sugar the isomer of cane-sugar formed ou 

 hydrolysing starch. He has also prepared "glucoses" containing 

 seven, eight, and nine atoms of carbon, and has established the 

 remarkable fact that only those which contain three, six, or nine 

 atoms of carbon are fermentable by yeast. His researches are not 

 only of the highest value to chemists, but also of extreme importance 

 to physiologists, on account of the insight which they promise into the 

 processes concerned in the natural formation of sugars. 



The Darwin Medal has been awarded to Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace 

 for his independent origination of the theory of the origin of species 

 by natural selection. 



It was natural that this, the first, award of the Darwin Medal 

 should have been made to one who independently originated the 

 theory, since named that of natural selection, which, in conjunction 

 with his other numerous and important contributions in the domain 

 of natural history, has made the name of Darwin so famous, and 

 who made known a large series of important and novel observations 

 in support of that theory, the result of many years' work in the Malay 

 Archipelago. These views Mr. Wallace has subsequently most ably 

 advocated in various published works, among others his laborious 

 volumes on the ' Geographical Distribution of Animals,' his brilliant 

 ' Island Life,' and more recently his ' Darwinism,' which was 

 published only last year. 



The Statutes relating to the election of Council and Officers were 

 then read, and Mr. Common and Mr. Symons having been, with the 

 consent of the Society, nominated Scrutators, the votes of the Fellows 

 present were taken, and the following were declared duly elected as 

 Council and Officers for the ensuing year: 



