for the years 1862 and 1863. On the occasion of the award, Sir David
Brewster, the Vice-President of the Society, thus referred to the many
valuable papers he had communicated to the Society during the seventeen
years of his connection with it:--"These papers, and others elsewhere
published, relate principally to the theories of Electricity, Magnetism,
and Heat, and evince a genius for the mathematical treatment of physical
questions which has not been surpassed, if equalled, by that of any
living philosopher. In studying the mathematical theory of Electricity,
he has greatly extended the general theorems demonstrated by our
distinguished countryman, Mr. Green; and was led to the principle of
'electrical images,' by which he was enabled to solve many problems
respecting the distribution of electricity on conductors, which had been
regarded as insoluble by the most eminent mathematicians in Europe. In
his researches on Thermo-dynamics, Professor Thomson has been equally
successful. In his papers 'On the Dynamical Theory of Heat,' he has
applied the fundamental propositions of the theory to bodies of all
kinds, and he has adduced many curious and important results regarding
the specific heats of bodies, which have been completely verified by the
accurate experiments of M. Joule. No less important are Professor
Thomson's researches on Solar Heat, contained in his remarkable papers
'On the Mechanical Energy of the Solar System;' his researches on the
Conservation of Energy, as applied to organic as well as inorganic
processes; and his fine theory of the dissipation of Energy, as given in
his paper 'On a Universal Tendency in Nature to the Dissipation of
Mechanical Energy.' To these we may add his complete theory of
Diamagnetic Action, his investigations relative to the Secular Cooling
of our Globe, and the influence of internal heat upon the temperature of
its surface." Sir David Brewster, after referring to other works, added
that "the important conclusions which he obtained from 'The Theory of
Induction in Submarine Telegraphy,' have found a valuable practical
application in the patent instrument for reading and receiving messages,
which he so successfully employed in the submarine cable across the
Atlantic; and when that great work is completed, his name will be
associated with the noblest gift that science ever offered to
civilisation. By his delicate electrometer, his electric spark
recorder, and his marine and land rela