1 82 CAPTAIN COOK 



a paper by Cook was read on the methods which 

 he had followed to safeguard the health of his 

 crew during his voyage round the world. 



This paper earned him at the end of the year 

 the Sir Godfrey Copley gold medal, the highest 

 award given for the most useful paper which 

 had been produced during the year concerning 

 new experiments. The President of the Royal 

 Society, Sir John Pringle, delivered a remark- 

 able address on this occasion, in which he 

 summed up the benefit to humanity conferred 

 by Captain Cook. 



"What experiments," he said, "could be more 

 useful than those of which the object is the pres- 

 ervation of man's life? Where could any be 

 found more successful than those with which we 

 are now concerned? Here we do not see the 

 fruitless power of empiricism, nor ingenious and 

 fanciful theories of a theoretical nature, but a 

 succinct and incontestable account of the means 

 employed by Captain Cook, with the aid of 

 divine providence, for making a three years* 

 voyage, in all climates, without losing more than 

 one single man out of a hundred and eighteen 

 which he had on board. ... If the Romans con- 

 ferred the civic crown on him who saved a single 

 citizen, what laurels are not due to the man who 

 has saved so many, to him who perpetuates, in 



