, would communicate their information, something curious might
perhaps be learned respecting a few of these medals. Concerning those
of which I have had good means of information, I shall merely state--of
three of them--that whatever may have been the official reasons for
their award, I had ample reasons to convince me of the following being
the true causes:--

First.--A medal was given to A, at a peculiarly inappropriate
time--BECAUSE HE HAD NOT HAD ONE BEFORE.

Second.--Subsequently a medal was given to B, in order TO DESTROY THE
IMPRESSION WHICH THE AWARD OF THE MEDAL TO A HAD MADE ON THE PUBLIC THE
PRECEDING YEAR.

Third.--A medal was given to C, "BECAUSE WE THINK HE HAS BEEN ILL USED."

I will now enter on an examination of one of their awards, which
was peculiarly injudicious. I allude to that concerning the mode of
rendering platina malleable. Respecting, as I did, the illustrious
philosopher who invented the art, and who has left many other claims
to the gratitude of mankind, I esteem it no disrespect to his memory to
place that subject in its proper light.

An invention in science or in art, may justly be considered as
possessing the rights of property in the highest degree. The lands
we inherit from our fathers, were cultivated ere they were born, and
yielded produce before they were cultivated. The products of genius are
the actual creations of the individual; and, after yielding profit or
honour to him, they remain the permanent endowments of the human race.
If the institutions of our country, and the opinions of society, support
us fully in the absolute disposal of our fields, of which we can, by
the laws of nature, be only the transitory possessors, who shall justly
restrict our discretion in the disposal of those richer possessions, the
products of intellectual exertion?

Two courses are open to those individuals who are thus endowed with
Nature's wealth. They may lock up in their own bosoms the mysteries they
have penetrated, and by applying their knowledge to the production of
some substance in demand in commerce, thus minister to the wants or
comforts of their species, whilst they reap in pecuniary profit the
legitimate reward of their exertions.

It is open to them, on the other hand, to disclose the secret they have
torn from Nature, and by allowing mankind to participate with them, to
claim at once that splendid reputation which is rarely refused to the
inventors of valuable discoveries in t