the
same year awarded to him, prevented him from taking any part in the
discussion.]

The impression which the whole of that discussion made on my mind
will never be effaced. Regarding the original rules formed for the
distribution of the Royal medals, when approved by his Majesty, as
equally binding in honour and in justice, I viewed the decision of the
Council, which assigned those medals to Mr. Dalton and Mr. Ivory, as
void, IPSO FACTO, on the ground that it was directly at variance with
that part which CONFINES the medals to discoveries made known to the
Society within ONE YEAR PREVIOUS TO THE DAY OF THEIR AWARD. I therefore
moved the following resolutions:

"1st, That the award of the Royal medals, made on the 16th of November,
1826, being contrary to the conditions under which they were offered, is
invalid.

"2dly, That the sum of fifty guineas each be presented to J. Dalton,
Esq. and James Ivory, Esq. from the funds of the Society; and that
letters be written to each of those gentlemen, expressing the hope
of the Council that this, the only method which is open to them of
honourably fulfilling their pledges, will be received by those gentlemen
as a mark of the high sense entertained by the Council of the importance
and value of their discoveries, which require not the aid of medals
to convey their reputation to posterity, as amongst the greatest which
distinguished the age in which they lived."

It may be curious to give the public a specimen of the reasoning
employed in so select a body of philosophers as the Council of the Royal
Society. It was contended, on the one hand, that although the award was
SOMEWHAT IRREGULAR, yet nothing was more easy than to set it right. As
the original rules for giving the medals were merely an order of the
Council,--it would only be necessary to alter them, and then the
award would agree perfectly with the laws. On the other hand, it was
contended, that the original rules were unknown to the public and to the
Society; and that, in fact, they were only known to the members of
the Council and a few of their friends; and therefore the award was no
breach of faith.

All comment on such reasoning is needless. That such propositions could
not merely be offered, but could pass unreproved, is sufficient to show
that the feelings of that body do not harmonize with those of the age;
and furnishes some explanation why several of the most active members of
the Royal Society have declin