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1 74 * Annioersary Meeting. [Nov. 30, | 



questions regarding the best forms or modes of adaptation of this material \ 



to some of the varied exigencies of the naval and military services, in which • 



its employment might be preferable to that of gunpowder, may be regarded - 



as more properly belonging to the executive professional ofncers of Her ; 



Majesty's Navy and Army. ! 



I have the great satisfaction of stating, on the part of the Committee, \ 

 that no injury to life or limb has taken place in the course of their experi- 

 ments. 5 



At the Nottingham Meeting of the British Association, the sum of 56 100 \ 



was granted to a Committee for the purpose of exploring the Tertiary j 



Plant-beds of North Greenland. The collections of fossil vegetable remains j 



from the arctic regions which had been brought to this country and pre- \ 



sented to various museums by Sir Leopold M'Clintock, Capt. Inglefield, and ) 



others, have all been sent to Prof. Oswald Heer, of Zurich, so well known i 



for his researches into the Tertiary Fossil Flora of Europe. The similar ; 



collections which were preserved in the museums of Denmark and Sweden | 



had also been submitted to the same authority ; and the results of his in- 1 



vestigation seem to show that North Greenland enjoyed, during part of the \ 



Tertiary epoch, a climate very much milder than that which is now expe- j 



rienced in those latitudes. j 



The description of the fossils is in process of publication by Prof. Heer ; 

 and in order to procure additional information on this very interesting sub- 

 ject, the grant was made by the Association. 



The Greenland Committee, finding that Mr. Edward Whymper, one of \ 



their members, was proceeding to Greenland in the summer of 1867, : 

 handed the entire sum over to him ; and finding that additional funds 

 would be requisite, they made application to the Royal Society, who 

 gave 36200 from the Government Grant Fund, placed at the disposal of 



the Society. | 



Mr. Whymper has now returned from Greenland wdth a large and valu- ? 

 able collection of specimens. These will at once be subjected to examina- 

 tion ; and when this work has been effected, a complete series of specimens ; 

 will be deposited in the British Museum, according to the conditions of the ■ 

 grant, as made by the British Association and by the President and Council ! 

 of the Eoyal Society. | 



I proceed to the award of the Medals. | 



The Copley Medal has been awarded to Karl Ernst von Baer of St. j 



Petersburg, For. Memb. of the Royal Society, for his discoveries in Em- j 



bryology and Comparative Anatomy, and for his contributions to the ^ 



Philosophy of Zoology. ■ 



Forty-one years ago it was believed by all the great authorities in ana- ' 



tomy and physiology that the embryos of man and of other Mammalia origi- • 



nated in quite a different manner from those of oviparous animals. As to \ 

 the latter, everyday observation of fowls, snakes, frogs, and fishes had been 



i 



