176 
HISTORY OF THE 
[1870-80 
from Greenwich, but the opponents of an establishment of this 
kind were prepared to support an extension of the existing National 
Observatories. 
The spirit in which the discussion was conducted and the 
feeling that existed in the Council may be inferred from the fact 
that at the meeting in 1872 November, Mr. De la Rue, Colonel 
Strange, and Mr. Lockyer retired from the Council; the first 
because he felt “ that the opinion of the majority had diverged 
considerably from his own on various occasions ” ; Colonel Strange, 
because he thought that certain members of the Council were 
incompetent and that these exercised an undue influence ; and Mr. 
Lockyer, because Mr. Proctor made repeated attacks on him in 
“ certain obscure prints,” and for this reason he did not wish to 
sit at the Council table with him. The secession of these three 
Members did not restore harmony, but the factious spirit had full 
play in the selection of a recipient for the Gold Medal in the follow 
ing February. At the Council meeting in November it was 
proposed by Professor Pritchard, who was strongly supported by 
Dr. Huggins, that Mr. Lockyer, M. Janssen, and Professor Respighi 
should have the medal jointly, in accordance with the Bye-law 
passed in 1871 June. Mr. E. B. Denison (afterwards Sir Edmund 
Beckett, Bart., and finally Lord Grimthorpe) proposed that Mr. 
Proctor should have the medal for his contributions to astronomical 
literature, especially his Charts of Stars and theories about their 
distribution, and his papers on the Transit of Venus. Other 
names were proposed as recipients, but the contest was mainly 
between the supporters of the three solar observers first named, 
and those of Mr. Proctor. Professor Pritchard withdrew the name 
of Respighi before the discussion, but at a later stage—when he 
saw that there was much opposition to Mr. Lockyer—he was not 
allowed to withdraw the name of that gentleman, otherwise M. 
Janssen would have got the medal. There was a decided opinion 
among certain influential members of the Council that Mr. Proctor’s 
work, though very voluminous and painstaking, did not deserve 
this high recognition, and it was eventually decided that the 
Gold Medal should not be awarded in 1873. It seems possible 
that Proctor had been proposed merely to set up a candidate in 
opposition to Lockyer. 
An early opportunity for further dissension arose in the election 
of the Council in 1873 February, and on this occasion Colonel 
Strange was the avowed aggressor. The Council, according to 
custom, prepared a list of names to be submitted to the Society for 
election. A few days before the Annual Meeting a circular was 
issued to all the Fellows of the Society by Colonel Strange. In 
this he called attention to the recent resignations, which were not