Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/59

 1820-30] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 43 5 dwts. 7^ gr. in weight, corresponding to i, 73. 7d. in value. It was resolved that the medals in future should have a uniform value of 10 of the currency, and about the same time (1827 November) it was resolved that all proposals for medals should be made in December and considered in January, an approxima- tion to the procedure which ultimately took shape. In the earlier years proposals for medals had not followed any regular rule, and had been more numerous than they ultimately became. It was one of the intentions of the newly formed Society to stimulate the progress of Astronomy by proposing prize ques- tions for solution, but no great success attended these efforts. The questions proposed were often fully worthy of attention, or so we should judge in the light of our riper experience. Thus in 1824 April it was decided to offer a silver medal for a stellar photo- meter, and in response a suggestion was made by one of the Green- wich assistants, but apparently not approved. Many years were to elapse before a satisfactory solution of this problem was approached ; but looking back now, from our presumably deceptive standpoint, it is puzzling to think that the need was formulated and attempts made to meet it, with so little success. With regard to other problems suggested at the same time, such as the provision of tables of the newly discovered minor planets, and the integra- tion of the equations in the problem of three bodies, we can under- stand the reasons for failure in response ; but why should not someone have devised some kind of photometer, even in 1824 ? The first medals were presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Society on 1824 February 13, though the awards had already been announced at the previous November meeting. Two gold medals were given, one to Babbage for his (first) calculating machine, and one to Encke for his determination of the elliptic -orbit of the comet called after him. Two silver medals were given to Charles Riimker and to Pons, both for discoveries of comets. We may here refer to the list of recipients of the medals given at the end of this volume, or to the lists of the awards printed at the end of nearly every volume of the Memoirs down to the present time. We shall here merely mention that silver medals were only given to two other recipients, to Stratford and to Beaufoy, both in 1827. I n I ^26 and 1827 the medals were presented at Special General Meetings in the month of April ; but beginning with 1828 they have always been presented at the Annual General Meeting in February, though this is merely a custom and is not a consequence of any bye-law. The presidential addresses delivered on these occasions, which at first were very short, became gradually longer, and have always been valuable and interesting summaries of the work done by the medallists.