THE TRUSTS OF THE SOCIETY 177 



No. 5. THE DARWIN MEMORIAL FUND. 



In 1885 the Committee of the International Darwin Memorial Fund 

 resolved to transfer to the Royal Society the balance that remained in their 

 hands, in trust, to devote the proceeds from time to time towards the 

 promotion of biological studies and research. The amount was invested 

 in the purchase of ="2,500 South-Eastern Railway 4 per cent. Debenture 

 Stock. In accordance with a resolution of the Council, a silver medal is 

 awarded biennially in recognition of work of acknowledged distinction 

 (especially in Biology) in the field in which Charles Darwin himself laboured. 

 The medal is accompanied by a grant of ,100. The first medal was awarded 

 to Alfred Russel Wallace. The income of the fund being more than sufficient 

 to provide for the medal and accompanying grant, balances accumulated 

 which were invested in 560 South-Eastern Railway 3 per cent. Perpetual 

 Debenture Stock. Early in 1910 the Treasurer having called the attention 

 of the Council to the continued accumulation of balances, the Council after 

 consulting the Sectional Committees for Botany and Zoology and receiving 

 a report from a Joint Committee of those bodies, decided on their recom- 

 mendation 'that the surplus income of the Darwin Fund, after providing 

 for the Silver Medal and Money Gift prescribed by existing regulations, 

 be devoted, not to the provision of scholarships or medals, but to the 

 furtherance of biological research in the Darwinian field, and that it be 

 expended at the discretion of the Council on the advice of the Sectional 

 Committees for Botany and Zoology meeting jointly ."* (See p. 215.) 



No. 6. THE DAVY MEDAL FUND. 



By the will of Dr. John Davy, F.R.S., the service of plate presented to 

 Sir Humphry Davy for the invention of the safety lamp, was bequeathed to 

 the Society, to be melted down and sold, in order to found a medal to be given 

 annually for the most important discovery in chemistry. The amount received 

 in 1869 was invested in the purchase of 660 Madras Railway Stock, pro- 

 ducing about 33 per annum. This has since been converted into a Madras 

 Railway B Annuity of 36 0*. lldf., the capital becoming repayable by 

 a sinking fund on April 1, 1956. Some little time elapsed before the dies 

 could be prepared, and the first medal actually awarded was given, in duplicate, 

 to Bunsen and Kirchhoff in 1877 (see p. 215). 



No. 7. TH.E DONATION FUND. 



In 1828 William Hyde Wollaston, M.D., F.R.S., President of the Society 

 in 1820, gave the sum of 2,000 3 per cent. Consols, to be called the Donation 

 Fund, the dividends to be applied from time to time in promoting experimental 

 researches, or in rewarding those by whom such researches may have been 



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