The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-03 00:00:00

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

St. Andrew's day falling this year on a Sunday, the
anniversary meeting of the Royal Society was held at
Somerset-house on Monday, Dec. 1. Lord Wrottesley,
_

the president, took the chair, and delivered the custom-
ary address, in which the advancement of science and
the advantages likely to accrue from intimate relations
between the Government and the representatives of
science were earnestly set forth. _ _

..._. .:
The proposed Arctic expedition in search of the relics
of the Franklin party was recommended in the following

terms :

" It is net extraordinary that those who are disposed
,o form a low estimate of the value of scientific re•

search should also entertain doubts as to the propriety
of hazarding human life in its behalf. In the late dis-
cussions on the expediency of undertaking another Polar
expedition, it seemed to be assumed by some that the
well grounded anticipation of valuable contributions to
physical and geological science would not alone be
sufficient to justify the exposing of the lives of gal-
lant men to peril—not even of those who were most
willing and anxious to be so employed, emulous of such
distinction, and regardless of the risk. However this
may be, it is certain that science has sustained,
and does still sustain, injury from the fear of offending
against this popular notion that it is wrong to hazard
human life for such an object. In case of the proposed
Polar expedition the risk would be very small, inasmuch
as the exploration, instead of being as formerly a tenta-
tive one, embracing many thousand miles of unknown
coast, would be confined to a fixed and limited locality,
hitherto unexplored and possessed of groat scientific in-
terest. Independently of additions to our geographical
and physical knowledge, the possible recovery of the
magnetical observations and the journals of the Franklin
expedition is a consideration of great moment, since the
former must have been made by officers well trained to
the task with excellent instruments, verified before the
sailing of the expedition, and in localities possessing
peculiar interest in reference to the theory of mag-
netism ; and the latter would doubtless contain a nar
rative of the deepest interest, not only to the cultivators
of science, but to the public generally. You will not
suspect me, I am sure, of being indifferent to the fate
of brave men ; but the fact is, it is well nigh im-
possible to add to our stock of physical knowledge with-
out some risk to life. The astronomer in his observa-
tory, exposed night after night to the open air at a freez-
ing temperature ; the chemist in his laboratory, among
poisonous and explosive substances ; the surgeon who
handles the dissecting knife, all equally with the adven-
turous traveller expose their lives to peril. We know
what was the opinion of the great Athenian moralist
and martyr on this question, from that fine passage in
which the dangers of military and civil life are so beau-
tifully contrasted. 'I should have acted strangely, in-
deed,' says he, 'if, having stood firmly in the post as-
signed to me by my general at Amphipolis, Potidma,
aid Delium, and braved every danger, I had turned
coward and feared to die when God ordered me to be a
philosopher and instruct mankind.' "
The medals were awarded to the following gentlemen :
—The Copley to Professor H. Milne Edwards, for his re-
searches in comparative anatomy and zeo'ogy ; the Rum-
ford medal to Professor Louis Pasteur, of Lille, for his
discovery of the nature of racemic acid and its relations to
polarised light, and for the researches to which he was
led to that discovery ; a Royal medal to Sir John
Richardson, for his contributions to natural history and
physical geography ; a Royal medal to Pr )fessor W
Thomson, of Glasgow, for hie various physical researches
relating to electricity, to the motive power of heat, &c.
At the close of the address the society proceeded to
elect a council and officers, and the following list was
chosen for the year ensuing :
Pi esident—The Lord Wrottesley, M.A.
Treasurer—Major-General Edward Sabine, R.A.,
D.C.L.
Secretaries—William Sharpey, M.D. ; Mr. George
Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L.
Foreign Secretary—Mr. William Hallows Miller,
M.A.
Other Members of the Council—Mr. James Moncrieff
Arnott ; William Benjamin: Carpenter, M.D. ; Mr. Ar-
thur Cayley, the Dean of Ely, Mr. William Fairbairn,
Arthur Farre, M.D., Mr. William Robert Grove, M.A.,
Joseph Dalton Hooker, M.D., 111.. William Hopkins,
1V1.A., William Allen Miller, M.A., Lyon Playfair,
Ph.D., Rev. Bartholomew Price, M.A., Captain Sir
James Clark Ross, R N., D.C.L., Rear-Admiral W. H.
Smyth, D.C.L., John Stenhouse, LL.D., John Tyndall,
Ph.D.