1851 POSITION IN THE WORLD OF SCIENCE 101 



Royal Medal, which was awarded him the following 

 year. Of this he writes : 



November 7, 1851. I have at last tasted what it is to 

 mingle with my fellows to take my place in that society 

 for which nature has fitted me, and whether the draught 

 has been a poison which has heated my veins, or true 

 nectar from the gods, life-giving, I know not, but I can 

 no longer rest where I once could have rested. If I 

 could find within myself that mere personal ambition, the 

 desire of fame, present or posthumous, had anything to do 

 with this restlessness, I would root it out. But in those 

 moments of self-questioning, when one does not lie even 

 to one's self, I feel that I can say it is not so that the 

 real pleasure, the true sphere, lies in the* feeling of self- 

 development in the sense of power and of growing 

 oneness with the great spirit of abstract truth. 



Do you understand this ? I know you do ; our old 

 oneness of feeling will not desert us here. . . . 



To-day a most unexpected occurrence came to my 

 knowledge. I must tell you that the Queen places at the 

 disposal of the Eoyal Society once a year a valuable gold 

 medal to be given to the author of the best paper upon 

 either a physical, chemical, or anatomical or physiological 

 subject. One of these branches of science is chosen by 

 the Royal Society for each year, and therefore for any 

 given subject say anatomy and physiology it becomes 

 a triennial prize, and is given to the best memoir in the 

 Transactions for three years. 



It happens that the Royal Medal, as it is called, is this 

 year given in Anatomy and Physiology. I had no idea 

 that I had the least chance of getting it, and made no 

 effort to do so. But I heard this morning from a member 

 of the Council that the award was made yesterday, and 

 that I was within an ace of getting it. Newport, 1 a man 



1 George Newport, 1803-1854. His most important work was 

 that on "Impregnation," for which he received this medal. 



