
1904.| Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins. ye 
H.M. Treasury :—“ Their Lordships have deemed themselves in the past very 
fortunate in being able to rely, in dealing with scientific questions, upon the 
aid of the Royal Society, which commands not only the confidence of the 
scientific world, but also of Parliament.” 
In the past the Royal Society has been not infrequently greatly hampered 
in giving its advice, by the knowledge that the funds absolutely needed for 
the carrying out of the matters in question in.accordance with our present 
scientific knowledge would not be forthcoming. Though I am now speaking 
on my own responsibility, I am sure that the Society is with me, if I say that 
the expenditure by the Government on scientific research and scientific insti- 
tutions, on which its commercial and industrial prosperity so largely depend, 
is wholly inadequate in view of the present state of international competition. 
I throw no blame on the individual members of the present or former 
Governments; they are necessarily the representatives of public opinion, and 
cannot go beyond it. The cause is deeper, it les in the absence in the leaders. 
of public opinion, and indeed throughout the more influential classes of 
society, of a sufficiently intelligent appreciation of the supreme importance of 
scientific knowledge and scientific methods in all industrial enterprises, and 
indeed in all national undertakings. The evidence of this grave state of the 
public mind is strikingly shown by the very small response that follows any 
appeal that is made for scientific objects in this country, in contrast with the 
_ large donations and liberal endowments from private benefaction for scientific 
purposes and scientific institutions which are always at once forthcoming in 
the United States. In my opinion, the scientific deadness of the nation is 
mainly due to the too exclusively medieval and classical methods of our 
higher public schools, and can only be slowly removed by making in future 
the teaching of Science, not from text-books for passing an examination, but, 
as far as may be possible, from the study of the phenomena of Nature by 
direct observation and experiment, an integral and essential part of all 
education in this country. 
I proceed to the award of the Medals. 
CoPLEY MEDAL. 
The Copley Medal is awarded to Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., for his 
experimental researches in chemistry and physics, extending over more than 
fifty years. Ever since his discovery of the element thallium in the early 
days of spectrum analysis, he has been in the front rank as regards the refined 
application of that weapon of research in chemical investigation. Later, the 
discrepancies which he found in an attempt to improve weighings, by con- 
