54 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



" as vigorous a growth as those found fossil in Europe. Plants that are 

 " comparatively modern, of Miocene date, discovered by various explorers 

 " in Greenland and Spitzbergen, had already testified to the existence of a 

 " mild climate in Tertiary times, such as formerly prevailed in Central 

 " Europe, and which, according to Heer, had probably reached to the pole 

 " itself. Now we learn, from the same eminent botanist, that the fossils 

 (i brought in 1870 from Atarne and Atarnekerdluk, in Greenland, by Nor- 

 " denskiold and his companions, throw light on the flora of a geological 

 " period, the Cretaceous, intermediate between the Carboniferous and Mio- 

 " cene ; for among these newly found fossils are plants referable both 

 *' to the Lower and Upper Cretaceous formation, which prove, says Pro- 

 " fessor Heer, that in these high latitudes, as in Central Europe, the 

 " Lower Cretaceous flora consisted principally of Eerns, Conifers, and 

 " Cycads; while in the Upper Cretaceous, Dicotyledones appear; and both 

 " these great divisions of the Upper Mesozoic flora show a warmer climate 

 " than the Miocene." 



It is satisfactory to learn that there is a probability that these researches 

 will be resumed in 1872 by a second North-German Expedition to East 

 Greenland. 



The Scientific Institutions and establishments of our country have been 

 honoured this summer by long and careful visits from His Majesty Pedro 

 II., Emperor of Brazil, whose remarkable competence to appreciate such 

 Institutions may be said to be universally recognized. At a recent Meet- 

 ing of the Royal Society, we have had the pleasure of enrolling His 

 Majesty's name in the List of our Eellows. We have only to regret the 

 Emperor's unavoidable absence from our Meetings ; unavoidable because 

 the Society having been in recess during his visit to England, the election 

 could not have taken place until the new Session, when he had quitted our 

 shores. It was pleasing to hear on this occasion, from Eellows distin- 

 guished in different branches of science, the warm and competent testimony 

 borne to his Majesty's acquirements and to his rare scientific intelligence. 



As your President, I have been called upon, by the Royal Commission on 

 Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, to give evidence re- 

 garding the assistance which, in the course of the last fifty years, has been 

 rendered from time to time by Her Majesty's Government in the advance- 

 ment of science, on the recommendation of the Scientific Institutions of the 

 country, and especially on the recommendation of the Royal Society. 

 The evidence thus given has been printed by the direction of the Commis- 

 sion, and is procurable in the usual manner. 



I proceed to the award of the Medals. 



The Copley Meda] has been awarded to Dr. Julius Robert Mayer, of Heil- 

 bronn, for his researches on the Mechanics of Heat, including essays on : — 

 1. The Eorces of Inorganic Nature ; 2. Organic Motion in connexion with 



