1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



23 



of making simullaiicous observations in rliffcrcnt jiarts of our colonial pos- 

 sessions. These reeommendations have l>ecn readily acceded to, liotli by the 

 Government and by the Directors of the East India Company, and probably, 

 ere many months shall have elapsed, the observatories will be in full activity. 

 I have stated, tientlemen, that your Council had recourse to the Scientific 

 Comniiftees for assistance in drawing up instructions for the Expedition in 

 different branches of knowledge; those romniittccs, who were named only 

 two years ago, were at first apparently more a matter of form than substance ; 

 t hey have now been found capable of doing excellent service. Not only has 

 your Council consulted them on the questions already alluded to, but also, 

 ol)serving that the several Committees arc composed of the most competent 

 judges of the merits of the raentoirs in the respective departments of science 

 communicated to tlie Society, they have, in general, referred the papers to 

 them to report upon previously to coming to a decision regarding tlieir pub- 

 lication. The Royal Society, from its character of pursuing every branch of 

 phjsical science, is evidently in a different position from other societies pro- 

 fessing some one science .ilone. It may be reasonably expected, that in the 

 Botanical or Ocological Society, for instance, the whole Council should pos- 

 sess a certain degree of botanical or geological knowledge. This, however, 

 cannot he the ease with us. Our Council will comprise a few astronomers, a 

 few zoologists, a few botanists, and a few persons well acquainted witli geo- 

 logy and medicine ; but no single science can monopolize a large nundier of 

 its members. In difficult questions we have therefore felt that it is more 

 satisfactory to ourselves, and we think proliably more so to the general body 

 of the society, and to those who have favoured us with ]iapers, that we should 

 ask the opinion of a larger nundicr of men conversant with the immediate 

 sciences in question. At the same time, the Council retains its responsil)ility 

 for its acts, and the chief otticers of the society are officially members of each 

 of the scientific committees. The Covnicil have derived a further assistance 

 from these Committees in the adjudication of our medals. In naming these 

 Committees, the Council has had both a difBcult and a delicate task. Con- 

 vinced that bodies, when too numerous, are little adapted for business, they 

 have also felt that the power of giving their attendance might be more im- 

 |)ortant than .absolute superiority of scientific attainments. Some mend)ers 

 have, however, been selected, though really non-resident, because it was be- 

 lieved that their colleagues miglit wish to consult thcni by letter. With these 

 objects and views, the Council have done their best ; but they have little 

 doubt that some gentlemen have been overlooked and omitted, whose pre- 

 sence in the Committees might have liecn very desirable- The Society must 

 consider this as in some degree a new system, to be perfected and improved 

 by experience alone. Another question has occupied a share of the time of 

 the Council during the last year. We have felt that the testimonial of re- 

 commendation for new Fellows has scarcely been sufficiently definite and 

 precise in stating the grounds on which the candidate was recommended to 

 the bodv of the Society. We have therefore thought it desirable to draw up 

 forms of testimonial, some one of which may he adopted as most fit for each 

 individual so recommended. We have tboiight this more fair, at the same 

 time, to the meritorious candidate and to those electors who are otherwise 

 left in the dark with respect to liis claims for their suffrages. We hope and 

 trust that this new regulation will not stand in the way of any caudiilate who 

 would be a desirable addition to our number. 



The vacancies in (he li.st of our Foreign Members have been supplied by the 

 election of .\I. Savart of Paris, Siguor Melloui of Parma, M. Quetelet of Brus- 

 sels, M. Hansteen of Christiana, Prof. Agassiz of Xeufchatel, ,and M. von Mar- 

 tins of Milnich, as those Fellows who were present at their election will re- 

 jnember. 



I have to announce to you, Gentlemen, with great regret, the retirement of 

 Captain Smyth from the otHce of Foreign Secretary, in consequence of his 

 leaving his present residence for one at an inconvenient distance from Lon- 

 don. 



I have the honour, Gcnllenicn, to inform you that the Council have, by an 

 uuanimous decision, awarded the Royal Med.als to Dr. Maitin Bariy aad Mr. 

 Ivory, and the Copley Medal for the year to Mr. Robert Brown; and I shall 

 now beg leave to address myself to those three Gentlemen. 



Dr. B.\RHV. — It gives me sincere pleasure to bestow this medal on a gen- 

 tleman who has so well deserved it, by researches in a ilifticult and important 

 portion of animal physiology. Your merits have been appreciated Iiy men 

 much more e.'ipable of mnlerstauding the subject than I can pretend to be — 

 by men selected by tlie Council of the Royal Society for their physiological 

 science, who have felt the great value of the discoveries you have iiuide by 

 accurate and diligent research, aided oy the skilful use of the microscope. I 

 trust that the award of this medal will encourage you to persevere in the 

 same course, and that future discoveries may add to your reputation and to 

 that of the important profession to which you belong. 



Ma. Ivory — It is not the first time that you have been addressed from 

 this chair, and it gives me great satisfaction to follow the steps of my prede- 

 cessors. Sir .loscph Banks and Sir 11. Davy, by .again bestowing a medal on 

 one who is an honour to the Royal Society, and pre-eminently distinguished 

 for his nLtthematical attairiuients. The laho\irs of your life arc too well 

 known to the scientific world to require any culogium from me, and I con- 

 sider that in this tribute to your jiaper on astronomical refraction, we are 

 rather doing an honour to ourselves than to you. 



Mil. Brows — In conferring the Copley Medal on yon for your v.alnable 

 discoveries in vegetable impregnation, 1 am quite sure that the voice of scien- 

 tific Europe will respond to the decision of the Council of the Royal Society. 



The Academic des Sciences has already pronounced on your merits, as also 

 on those of Mr. Ivory, by electing you as well as that gentleman to a seat 

 among their foreign members : and the University of Oxford has also, by an 

 honorary degree, given you a similar testimonial. That you are one of our 

 Fellows is to myself a circmnstance peculiarly agreeable, as it m\ibt be to the 

 whole body over whom I have the honour to preside. Your discoveries in 

 the particular botanical question, for which I have to give you the Copley 

 Medal, ai'c so important, not only in a botanical, but also in a general scien- 

 tific point of view, by showing the close analogies of animal and vegetable 

 bfe, that the Committee of Zoology have felt it as much their province as 

 (hat of the Committee of Botanj , to recommend that the Copley Medal 

 should be bestowed upon yon ; and the Council have come to an unanimous 

 resolution to give it, though at the same time other gentlemen were recom- 

 mended by otlier scientific committees, with whom even an unsuccessful 

 rivalry would be no mean praise. I liope, Mr. Brown, that you may long 

 enjoy life aiul leisure to pursue researches so valuable to science and so hon- 

 ourable to the country of which you arc a native. 



In drawing up the following notice of the losses wliich the Royal Society 

 has sustained during the last year, in conformity with the practice of my pre- 

 decessors, I have availed myself of the assistance of one of the Fellows, whose 

 acquaintance with the labours of men of science peculiarly qualified him for 

 the execution of a task which 1 could not myself have ventured to undertake. 

 I therefore will not longer occuj)y your time by any fmther remarks of my 

 own, but will conclude liy the expression of my pre.!ent wishes for the pros- 

 perity of tlie Royal Society, and for its success in furthering the noble ends 

 for which it was instituted. 



The Rev. Martin Davy was originally a member of the medical profes- 

 sion, which he followed, during a greater part of his life, with no inconsider- 

 able reputation. He became a medical student of Cains College iu 1 787, and 

 was elected to a fellowship iu 1793, and to the mastership in 180.'!, the late 

 illustrious Dr. Wollaston being one of his competitors. One of the first acts 

 of his administration was to open his College to a more large and lilieral com- 

 petition, by the abolition of some mischievous and unst.atutablc restrictions, 

 which had been sanctioned by long custom, ami also by making academical 

 merit and honours the sole avenue to college preferment : and he lived to 

 witness the complete success of this wise and liberal measm'e, in the rapid 

 increase of the number of high academical honours which were g.iined by 

 members of his College, and by the subsc quent advancement of many of thera 

 to the highest professional rank and eminence. Some years after his acces- 

 sion to the m.istership, he took holy orders and comnuited the degree of 

 Doctor of Medicine for that of Theology, and in later life he was coilaled to 

 some considerble ecclesiastical preferments. Dr. Davy bad no great ac- 

 quaintiince with the details of accurate science, but he was remarkable for 

 the extent and variety of his attainments in classical and general litcr.ature ; 

 his conversation was eminently lively aiul original and not less agreeable from 

 its occasional tendency to somewhat paradoxical, though generally liarmless 

 speculations. He died in May last, after a long illness, deeply lamented by 

 a large circle of friends, to whom he was endeared by his many social and 

 other virtues. 



Dr. llEunKHT Marsh, Bishop of Petcrboroug'i, and one of the most acute 

 and learned theologians of his age, became a member of St. .lohn's College in 

 the University of Cambridge in the year 177.'i, and took bis B..\. degree in 

 1 7f 0, being second in the list of Wranglers, which was headed liy his friend 

 and relation Mr. Thomas .loncs, a n\au whose intellectu.al powers were of the 

 highest order, and who for many ye:irs filled the oitlce of tutor of Trinity 

 College with unequalled success ami reputation. Soon after his election to a 

 felIo^v3hip, he went to Germany, ^vbere he de\'oted himself ilin-ing many years 

 to theological and gcm-ral studies, and first became known to the public as 

 the translator and learned commcnt.ator of .Mich.iclis's Introduction to the 

 New Testament. It was during his residence abroad that he pubbshed iu the 

 German hinguage various tracts in defence of the policy of his own country 

 in the continental wars, and more particularly a very elaborate " History of 

 the i'olitics of Great Britain and France, from the time of the Conference at 

 Pilnitz to the Declaration of War," a work which produced a marked im- 

 pression on the state of public opinion in Germany, and for which he re- 

 ceived a very considerable pension on the recommendation of Mr. Pitt. In 

 1807. he was elected Lady ilargaret's Professor of Divinity in (he University 

 of Cambridge, an appointment of great value and importance, which he re- 

 tained for the remainder of his life. On the resumption of his residence in 

 (he University, he devoted himself with great diligence to the preparation of 

 bis lectures on various important branches of Divinity, interposing a great 

 number" of occasional pubUcations on the CatboUc Question, the Bible So- 

 ciety, and various other subjecis of political and theological controversy. In 

 1S16 ho was .appointed Bishop of Llandaff; and three years afterwards he 

 was translated to the see of Peterborough. * * Dr. Marsh was a man of 

 great learning and very uncommon vigoiu' of mind, and as a writer, remarka- 

 ble for the great precision of bis language and his singuhar clearness in the 

 statement of his argument. 



Professor Rigauo. — The father of the late Professor Rigaud bad the 

 care of the King's Observatory at Kew, an appointment whi^h proljably in- 

 fluenced the early tastes and predilections of his son. lie was admitted a 

 member of Exeter CoUege, Oxford, in 1 791, at the early age of sixteen, and 

 continued to reshle there as fellow and tutor until 1810, when he was ap- 

 pointed Savilian Professor of Geometry. He afterwards succeeded to the 

 care of the Kadcliffo Observatory, and the noble suite of iuitrumcnts by Bird, 



