Jan. 7, 1875] 



NA TURE 



199 



property, after the decease of his two sisters, to the Royal 



Society. 



The last of these ladies died in 1S72, since when certain legal 

 formalities have been complied with, and the claims of the 

 Royal Society to the landed estates under the Mortmain Act 

 have been brought before the Court. In February last tlie 

 Master of the Rolls decided that " the gifts to the I'ioyal 

 Society, so far as they relate to pure personalty, are good 

 charitable gifts, but otherwise void." The personalty as set 

 forth in the "Bill of Complaint," comprises 6,033/. 1^- 5"'- 

 Three per Cent. Consols, 1,9045-. l^s. 2d. Reduced, and 41/. 

 iSj-. 51/. Bank of England Stock. 



By the terms of the will, the Society is to preserve the pro- 

 perty intact in value, as a Fund Principal, the income of which 

 is to be applied to the rewarding inventions in art, discoveries in 

 science, physical or metaphysical ("which last and highest 

 branch of science," to quote the testator's words, " has been of 

 late most injuriously neglected in this country "), or for the 

 assistance of fit persons in the prosecution of inventions and 

 discoveries. The rew.ards or assistance are to be granted 

 annually, or after longer periods, to British subjects or foreigners, 

 according to the impartial decision of the President and 

 Council. 



A delay in distributing the l^equest has arisen from tlie 

 absence of a party on whom it was essential to serve a decree ; 

 this has, however, been now served, and there is every reason to 

 believe that the suit will go forward ; in which case we may 

 hope to receive the proceeds early next year. 



The Dircks Beqiust. — Mr. Henry Dircks, of Liverpool, and 

 latterly of London, who died in 1S72, has bequeathed the 

 residue of his property (about 4,000/.) after payment of debts 

 and charges, to the Royal Society, Royal Society of Literature, 

 Chemical Society, and Royal Society of Edinburgh, in equal 

 shares and proportions, in furtherance of their several objects. 

 As, however, it is possible that certain claims to the residue 

 under the Bankruptcy Act, dating from 1S47, may be set up, 

 we are advised that tlie estate cannot be administrated without 

 the aid of the Court of Chancery, which has been appealed to 

 accordingly. 



The Poiiti Will. — Lastly, it is my duty under this head to 

 inform you that our secretary has received a communication 

 from the Secretary of State for Foreign A0airs, to the effect 

 that the late M. Girolamo Ponti, of Milan, has bequeathed a 

 portion of his immense property to the "Academy of Science 

 of London." As, however, it does not appear what Society is 

 indicated under this title, and as the relatives of the testator 

 intend to dispute the will, the Council, as at present advised, 

 wiU take no steps in the matter. I have further to observe that 

 under the terms of the will, the Academy of Science will, if it 

 accepts the trust, be burdened with annual duties and responsi- 

 bilities respecting the distribution of the proceeds which would 

 be altogether mconsistent w ith the position and purposes of the 

 Royal Society. 



The FaircJiild Lecture. — This lecture no longer appears In 

 the annual financial statement of your treasurer. Though an 

 obvious anachronism and regarded almost from the first with 

 little sympathy either within or without our walls, it should not 

 pass away without a notice from the Chair. In February 1 72S 

 Thomas Fairchdd, of Hoxton, gardener, bequeathed 25/. to be 

 placed at interest for the payment of 2Qs. annually lor ever for 

 preaching a sermon in tlie parish church of St. Leonard's on 

 Tuesday in Whitsun week on "the wonderful works of God in 

 the creation, or on the certainty of the resurrection of the dead 

 proved by certain changes of the animal and vegetable parts of 

 the creation." From 1733 lo 175S most of the lectures were 

 read by Archdeacon Denne, one of the original trustees, who 

 in 1746 contributed all his lecture-fees to the fund, which, with 

 a subscription raised by the trustees, enabled them in 1 746 to 

 purchase 100/. South Sea Stock. Subsequently this stock was 

 offered to and accepted by the Society : the transfer was made 

 in 1757; and from that date the lecturers were appointed by 

 the President and Council. The lectures have been regularly 

 delivered, but of late years to empty pews, under which cir- 

 cumstances the Council, after full deliberation, unanimously 

 resolved that it was desirable to relieve the Society from the 

 Fairchild Trust, and that to this end application should lie 

 made to the Charity Commissioners. The regular forms having 

 been gone through, the Trust was translerred to the Commis- 

 sioners in November last, and thus disappears from our balance- 

 sheet. 



The Croonian and Bakerian lectures are given [annually as 



usual ; and those of this year appear in our Proceedings. These 

 do not diminish in interest and importance. 



Thi Davy Medal. — Tlie Council has accepted the duty of 

 annually awarding a medal, to be called the Davy Medal, for 

 the most important discovery in chemistry made in Europe or 

 Anglo-America. The history of this medal is as follows : — 



Our former illustrious president, Sir Humphry Davy, was 

 presented by the coalowners of this country with a service of 

 plate, for which they subscribed 2,500/., in recognition of his 

 merits as inventor of the Safety Lamp. In a codicil to his will 

 Sir Humphry left this service of plate to Lady Davy for her use 

 during her life, with instructions that after her death it should 

 pass to other members of the family, with the proviso that, 

 should they not be in a situation to use or enjoy it, it should be 

 melted and given to the Royal Society, to found a medal to be 

 awarded annually for the most important discovery in chemistry, 

 anywhere made in Europe or Anglo-America. 



On Sir Humphry's death the service of plate became the pro- 

 perty of his brother. Dr. John Davy, F.R.S., who, in fulfilment 

 of Sir Humphry's intentions, bequeathed it after the death of 

 his widow, or before if she thought proper, to the Royal Society, 

 to be apphed as aforesaid. On the death of Mrs. Davy the 

 plate was transferred to the custody of your treasurer, and, having 

 been melted and sold, realised 736/. Sj. 5</., which is invested in 

 Madras guaranteed railway stock, as set forth in the treasurer's 

 balance-sheet. The legacy duty was repaid to the Society by the 

 liberality of the Rev. A. Davy and Mrs. RoUeston. 



The style and value of the medal, and the steps to be taken 

 in reference to its future award, are now under the consideration 

 of the Council, and will, I hope, be laid before you on the next 

 anniversary. The acceptance of the trust has not been decided 

 upon without long and careful deliberation, nor without raising 

 the question of the expediency of recognising scientific services 

 and discoveries by such trivial awards as medals, and of the 

 extent to which the awards entrusted to our Society are depre- 

 ciated by their multiplication. My own opinion has long been 

 that some more satisfactory way of recognising distinguished 

 merit than by the presentation of a medal might be devised, and 

 that the award might take a form which would convey to the 

 public a more prominent and a more permanent record of the 

 services of the recipients, such as a bust or a portrait to be hung 

 on our walls, or a profile or a record of the discovery to be 

 engraved on the medal, which might be multiplied for distribu- 

 tion or sale to Fellows and to foreign Academies. In short, I 

 consider awards of medals without distinctive features to lie 

 anachronisms ; it is their purpose, not their value, which should 

 be well marked ; and the question is, whether that purpose is 

 well answered by their being continued under the present form. 



Instniments. — The small but remarkable, and, indeed, clas- 

 sical collection of instruments and apparatus belonging to the 

 Society, and for which there was no accommodation in old Bur- 

 lington House, was, on our migration from Somerset House in 

 1857, by order of the Council, deposited in the Observatory in 

 the Kew Deer-Park, near Richmond, then under the control of 

 the British Association. 



The instruments have been now for the most part brought 

 back and placed in our instrument-room, and wUl, I hope, at 

 no distant period be accessible to the Fellows. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Cosmos, Guido Cora's Italian Geographical Journal, Nos. 4 

 and 5 (in one), contains a long and carefully compiled article on 

 Italian travellers in Egypt from 130010 1840; Payer and Wey- 

 piecht's official account of the Austro-Hungarian Arctic Expe- 

 dition ; and the continuation of F. M. Prscevalski's exploration 

 of Eastern Mongolia and Thibet. There are, besides. Notes on 

 Gordon's Nile Expedition, — an Austrian naturaUst, Ernst 

 Manio, has been appointed to accompany Col. Ciordon ; there is 

 a short account of the travels of a Persian youth, Abdul Kerim, 

 in Tunisia. The part contains an excellent map of the border 

 region between Persia and Beluchistan, compiled from the maps 

 of Major St. John and the English Admiralty. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Anthropological Institute, Dec. 22. — Prof. Busk, F.R.S., 



president, in the chair.— Mr. J. Park Harrison exhibited 



tracings of late Phanician characters from the south-west of 



