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cacy of finish, as do him the highest credit : and I trust that the 

 medals will be considered in every way worthy of the exalted rank 

 and dignity of the Illustrious Personage in whose name this mark of 

 Royal favour is intended to be conferred. 



I am well aware that a diversity of opinion exists respecting the 

 advantages which are likely to be conferred upon Science by a fre- 

 quent distribution of medals. It is said that they must either con- 

 firm or contradict the judgement which has been either already pro- 

 nounced, or which posterity will most certainly hereafter pronounce, 

 upon the merits, pretensions, and influence of the discoveries or 

 series of investigations which such medals are designed to comme- 

 morate : that in the first case they can confer no additional ho- 

 nour upon their author, whose rank has already been ascertained 

 and fixed by the sentence of a higher tribunal, while, in the second, 

 they can only tend to compromise the character of the scientific 

 body by whose advice they are conferred. It is true that I would 

 not claim infallibility for the united judgement of any association, or 

 of any body of men, however eminent their scientific rank may be : 

 but it is the peculiar privilege of the great masters of Science, (and 

 more particularly so when acting or speaking as a body,) to be able 

 to anticipate, though not without the possibility of error, the de- 

 cision of Posterity, and thus to offer to the ardent cultivator of Sci- 

 ence that highest reward of his labours, as an immediate and well 

 assured possession, which he might otherwise be allowed silently 

 and doubtingly to hope for, but never be permitted to see realized : 

 and though some powerful minds might be content to entrust the 

 complete developement of their fame to the fulness of time, and might 

 pursue their silent labours under the influence of no other motives 

 but such as are furnished by their love of truth, the gratification de- 

 rived from the discovery of the beautiful relations of abstract science, 

 or from the contemplation of the agency of a Divine Mind in the har- 

 monies and constitution of the physical world, yet it is our duty 

 and business to deal with men as we find them constituted, and to 

 stimulate their exertions by presenting to their view honourable di- 

 stinctions attainable by honourable means ; to assure them that the 

 result of their labours will neither pass unnoticed nor unrewarded ; 

 and that there exists a tribunal to which they may appeal, or before 

 which they can appear, whose decision is always for honour, and 

 never for condemnation. 



It is for these reasons, Gentlemen, that I feel myself justified in 

 expressing my opinion that the power possessed by your Council of 

 conferring honorary rewards is a most salutary power, provided it 

 be exercised boldly, impartially and diligently ; and that it may 

 greatly promote the taste for scientific pursuits in this country, by 

 presenting a more immediate prospect than would otherwise ex- 

 ist, of a public and distinguished recognition of any valuable dis- 

 covery, or of the completion of any important and laborious course 

 of investigation. 



I had occasion, Gentlemen, when I had last the honour of address- 

 ing you, to remark that there w T ere many circumstances in the con- 



