282 



Anniversary Meeting, 



[Nov. 30, 



or three bright lines only ; and 2nd, what we may distinguish as spurious 

 nebulae, or nebulous matter with clusters, which give a spectrum apparently 

 continuous. Of the latter group a large proportion show signs of resol- 

 vability into clusters by telescopes of high power. 



In the present year also Mr. Huggins has made a remarkable observa- 

 tion upon the small comet, known as comet No. 1, 1866. He ascertained 

 that the minute nucleus gave a gaseous or discontinuous spectrum ; whilst 

 the spectrum of the coma, as though formed by suspended particles which 

 reflected solar light, gave a continuous spectrum. 



Since the publication of these results by Mr. Huggins, our investigators 

 have examined with great care the spectrum of the star which is either new 

 or has greatly increased in brilliancy in Corona borealis, and have found 

 that that star has a spectrum of absorption, and also a gaseous spectrum 

 of which hydrogen is probably the source. They have also connected, in 

 one instance at least, the change in a variable star with a variation in its 

 spectrum. 



Discoveries like these, which acquaint us not only with the constituents 

 of the heavenly bodies but also with their state of aggregation, are of the 

 nature of those which occur only once in the course of centuries, — like 

 the discovery of the satellites of planets, of solar spots, or of double stars, 

 • — and have the strongest possible claim on the Royal Society for such 

 honours as the Society has at its disposal. 



Mr. Huggins, 



It gives me the greatest pleasure to present you with this Medal : a 

 testimonial of the very high estimation in which your successful labours 

 (conjointly with Dr. Miller) are held by the Society, which has the satis- 

 faction of regarding you as one of its most distinguished Members. You 

 are at an age at which you may reasonably indulge in the prospect of 

 having a long career before you ; yet, however long, it will scarcely exhaust 

 the noble field of research which you have opened for yourself, and which 

 is one in which you are quite sure to be accompanied by the sympathy of 

 men of science throughout the world. 



A Royal Medal has been awarded to Mr. William Kitchen Parker for 

 his researches in Comparative Osteology, and more especially on the Ana- 

 tomy of the Skull, as contained in papers published in the Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society and the Philosophical Transactions. 



Mr. Parker has for several years past made investigations of great extent 

 and distinguished merit among the Foraminifera, the results of which are 

 embodied in Memoirs pubhshed by him from 1859 to 1865, in conjunc- 

 tion with Professor Rupert Jones and with Dr. Carpenter in the Annals 

 of Natural History, the publications of the Ray Society, and the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions. 



The award of a Royal Medal to Mr. Parker has been based, however, 



