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into many of the subjects which have been elucidated by the re- 

 searches of Professor Owen. But I think the sketch which I have been 

 able to lay before you, presents such an amount of labour, guided 

 by genius, and rewarded by important results, as is scarcely ex- 

 ampled in the history of natural science, and shows how justly the 

 Council have decided in awarding the highest honour the Royal 

 Society can bestow, on Professor Owen. 



The Royal Medal in the department of Astronomy having been 

 awarded to the President, Colonel Sabine addressed his Lordship as 

 follows : — 



Lord Rosse, 



It falls to me to present to your Lordship the Royal Medal in the 

 department of Astronomy, merited by researches not more remarkable 

 from the universal interest which they inspire, or the brilliant and 

 unexpected results which crown them, than from the rare combination 

 of industry, patience, inventive genius, and scientific power to which 

 they owe their success. You have reopened a field of investigation 

 which seemed almost exhausted by two of the most illustrious ob- 

 servers of this or any age ; and have added another proof of the great 

 truth, that wide as is the range of human intellect, the wonders of 

 Divine Wisdom lengthen out without limit beyond that range on 

 every side. Even in your first memoir ' On Nebulae ' (Philosophical 

 Transactions, 1844), it was evident that the resolution of a large pro- 

 portion of those mysterious forms into clusters might be expected, 

 and that even with the optical power of a three-feet reflector their 

 configurations would assume new aspects : — and these anticipations 

 have been fully realized by the gigantic instrument whose first 

 fruits you have presented to the Royal Society. Without attempt- 

 ing to analyse your second memoir, which must be familiar to all 

 who think in this department of Astronomy, I would notice as most 

 prominent : — 



1. The resolution of a great number of Nebulse not previously 

 resolved; and the discovery, that in most of these the stars are 

 neither uniform in magnitude nor distribution. In the most remark- 

 able, the great Nebula of Orion, its components are very minute, 

 but crowded in knots, giving it a mottled appearance ; while in 

 others (the Dumb bell for example), such small stars envelope an 

 assemblage of others of greater magnitude. Thus, the tokens of 

 resolvability, which the sagacity of Sir John Herschel had discerned, 

 are verified, and their application warranted to such Nebula as resist 

 even the six-foot reflector. There is no line of demarcation between 

 Clusters and Nebulse. 



2. Nor have the symmetric forms and exact circular or elliptic 

 outlines which many of the Nebulse were supposed to possess, when 

 seen with instruments too weak to bring out many of their details, 

 any existence : the hypothesis which infers from such appearances 

 their gradual consolidation under the influence of rotation and gravity 



