443 



matous granules, contained in a yellow substratum. The relation 

 of the vessels and excretory ducts to these supposed dissimilar sub- 

 stances was not known ; nor, although lhe organ was considered 

 to be a conglomerate gland, were the glandules of which it was con- 

 jectured to be composed, defined in magnitude, shape, or disposition. 

 Mr. Kiernan's discoveries show that in place of two textures there 

 exists but one j and that the difference of colour results from the 

 accidental congestion of one or other of the systems of vessels, which 

 are found in the liver. Mr. Kiernan has further satisfactorily de- 

 monstrated the size and limits of the integral glandules of which 

 the liver consists. He has traced the relation to these glandules of 

 the different orders of vessels, which are distributed through the organ, 

 and has explained the mechanism of biliary secretion. He has 

 shown that all the blood employed in secreting bile is venous ; and 

 that the origins of the biliary ducts differ in an important respect 

 from the origins of the ducts of all other glands : inasmuch as they 

 form a series, not of coiled or branching tubes, but of anastomosing 

 vessels, constituting a tubular network. 



Mr. Kiernan's researches display great industry and ingenuity ; 

 when foiled by the difficulties which had foiled preceding anatomists, he 

 applied a principle that had not been thought of before to facilitate 

 the investigation of structure. Hitherto, however eminent the En- 

 glish have been in physiology, (and the most eminent of physiolo- 

 gists, Harvey, was an Englishman,) they have been behind the Ger- 

 mans and the Italians in anatomy. The discovery which Mr. Kier- 

 nan has made, exceeds in originality, and in importance is scarcely 

 inferior to any single anatomical discovery on record. Its originality 

 consists in this ; it may be estimated from the circumstance that 

 nothing which had been previously done on this subject affords a clue 

 to what he has found; and the difficulty of the inquiry may be under- 

 stood from this ; that although many had undertaken it, all had pre- 

 viously failed. The importance of the facts displayed may be gathered 

 . from the consideration, that they greatly elucidate the morbid 

 anatomy of the liver, — a part of the human frame, which is remark- 

 able for the frequency and variety of its diseases, and at the same 

 time for the facility with which it may be influenced by remedial 

 agents. 



The Royal Medal for the present year, which the Council had pro- 

 posed to give to the most important paper in Astronomy communi- 

 cated to the Royal Society within the last three years, is awarded to 

 Sir John Frederick William Herschel, for his Catalogue of Nebulae 

 and Clusters of Stars, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 

 1833. 



In delivering this Medal His Royal Highness addressed the 

 Society as follows : — 



This, Gentlemen, is the second time that a Royal Medal has been 

 adjudged to Sir John Herschel, for researches in a department of 

 Astronomy which has descended to him as an hereditary possession - s 



