42 Royal Society. 



esteem and regard of various privute friends, and of a still larger 

 number of persons who appreciated and admired his acquirements. 



Of gentlemen who have not taken a direct share in the labours o. 

 this Society, I would notice Mr. Henry Browne. 



No one, I believe, was ever more distinguished in the important 

 station of commanding those vessels which secure to England the 

 commerce of nations unknown to former ages j nor did any one 

 more largely contribute towards introducing the modern refinements 

 of nautical astronomy, which skilfully pursued, and under favourable 

 circumstances determine the place of a ship with greater accuracy, 

 than what in the early part of the last century would have been 

 thought amply sufficient for headlands, roadsteads, or harbours of the 

 first importance. And 1 cannot omit this opportunity of congratu- 

 lating all those who addict themselves to astronomical pursuits, or 

 who feel an interest in the perfection of geography and navigation, 

 on the great improvements recently suggested and likely to be made 

 in our national ephemeris ; improvements which, in part at least, I 

 hoped to have got adopted twelve years ago : but now under more for- 

 tunate auspices I flatter myself that they will be carried into execu- 

 tion, and their practical advantages cannot fail of being very great. 



Retired to private life, Mr. Browne usefully amused his declining 

 years by a continuance of his favourite pursuits j and up to the latest 

 period of his life he patronised, encouraged, and promoted practical 

 astronomy. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie has, I understand, cultivated sci- 

 ence in the East, but no particulars have come to my knowledge. 



Sir Lucas Pepys is well known to have attained considerable emi- 

 nence in his profession. 



The Rev. Stephen Weston will long be remembered for his learn- 

 ing, abilities, good nature, and for his eccentric compositions on va- 

 rious subjects, and in different languages. And for one at least, 

 I may truly say, that it would gratify me to find a more permanent 

 reputation secured for this excellent man, by a collection being given 

 to the public of his numerous Opuscula. 



The late Duke of Atholl demands also attention, not on account of 

 his high station, but as a patron of science, and especially of that 

 most important, interesting and rapidly improving branch of science, 

 Geology. 



Geology, deriving its birth from the continent of Europe, seems to 

 have been drawn to this island by the genius of Dr. Hutton, and 

 here to have grown with the vigour of youth under the fostering hands 

 of many who now hear me, and also of a gentleman to whom the 

 Duke of Atholl afforded every assistance to be derived from his large 

 property, and his extensive influence. 



The Duke of Atholl has also at once enriched and decorated his 

 country j and afforded an instructive example to all other proprietors 

 of similar wastes, by clothing tracts of land, incapable of a different 

 cultivation, with the most valuable of the pines. His forests of larch, 

 which have acquired maturity in the course of a single life, promise 

 not merely to supersede the use of foreign deal, but to allow of our 



reserving 



