G E N T L E M E N ,
E F O R E we proceed further in the bufinefs of this
-J day, permit me to acquaint you with the judgment
of your Council in the difpofal of Sir Godfrey Copley’s medal
; an office I have undertaken at their requeft, and with
the greater fatisfa&ion, as I am confident you will be no lefs
unanimous in giving your approbation, than they have been
in addreffingyou for it upon thisoccafion. For though they
were not infenfible of the juft title that feveral of the Papers,
compofing the prefent volume of your Tranfaclions, had to
your particular notice, yet they did not hefitate in preferring
that which I prefented to you from Captain Cook, giving A11
account of the method he had taken to preferve the health of the crenv
of his Mqjejly’s jhip the Refolution during her late voyage round the
■ world. Indeed I imagine that the name alone of fo worthy
a member of this Society would have inclined you to depart
from the ftridijiefs of your rules, by conferring upon him
that honour, though you had received no diredf communication
from him; confidering how meritorious in your eyes
that perfon muft appear, who hath not only made the moft
extenfive, but the moft inftrudtive voyages; who hath not
only difcovered, but l'urveyed, vaft tracfts of new coafts; who
V o l . II. B b b hath