18 president's address. 



in conjunction with, the "Bibliotheca Oornubiensis," may be 

 considered as one of the most important contributions to the 

 literature of Cornwall published in recent years. 



It gave me much pleasure that I was able to preside over 

 the special meeting of the Council held on June 16, 1890, at 

 which the award of the first Hen wood Gold Medal was made 

 to the Eev. William lago, B.A., a Past-President of this 

 Institution, for his excellent memoir on " Recent Archaeological 

 Discoveries in Cornwall." I much regret, however, that I was 

 unable to be present at the annual meeting in November, at 

 which the formal presentation was made, but it was very 

 gratifying to me that my esteemed friend, Mr. H. M. JefEery, 

 M.A., F.E.S., occupied the chair on that occasion, and that his 

 graceful and appropriate remarks sufficiently explained the 

 grounds which guided the Council in selecting the memoir of 

 Mr. lago as the most important paper published in the Journal 

 during the preceding three years. 



I have had considerable experience as a member of the 

 Councils of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society, 

 in assisting in the annual awards of various gold medals for 

 scientij&c work, and I can truly say that, on these occasions, the 

 most careful scrutiny of the claims of the different nominees is 

 always made before the final decision. Though it is often found 

 that the discrimination between the respective merits of important 

 researches is a difficult matter, and sometimes decided only by a 

 numerical majority, yet I have never known the selection of the 

 medallist questioned, either by the minority in the Council, or 

 by the Fellows of the Society, by whom the judgment of the 

 Council is always received with respect. I can assure you that, 

 in the case of the award of the Henwood Gold Medal, a similar 

 careful consideration was given by your Council to the respective 

 merits of each qualified memoir. I concur most cordially with 

 all that Mr. Jeffery has said on the subject, and I may with 

 advantage repeat here his words, that " the most scrupulous care 

 was taken on weighing the comparative excellencies of the 

 authors, who have written with power in the Journal on widely 

 differing subjects during the preceding three years. In order to 

 mature their own judgment in the last resort, the Council had 

 adopted the practice of eminent contemporary societies in 



