6 5 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



liked to have his own way. At first, as was natural, we sometimes 

 surged against each other ; but these little oppositions were rapidly 

 adjusted, and for many years before his death the tie of brother to 

 brother was not truer or tenderer than that which united myself and 

 Bence Jones. On my return from the United States I found him 

 dying. In fact, the knowledge of his condition caused me to take 

 leave, earlier than I otherwise should have done, of a people that I had 

 learned to trust and love. Soon after my return I saw him lowered 

 into the grave. 



The death of Bence Jones, whose steadfast loyalty to the Institu- 

 tion he loved so well, showed itself to the last, was a sore calamity to 

 be met. At that time one man only seemed fitted to supply his place. 

 That man was the beloved and lamented William Spottiswoode. To 

 him I appealed to stand by the Institution at a critical hour of its for- 

 tunes. He had his own mathematical work on hand, and he was too 

 well acquainted with the duties of our honorary secretaryship to ac- 

 cept them lightly. After much reflection, he wrote me a letter regret- 

 fully but distinctly declining the office. But he reflected a second 

 time. He knew that his refusal would cause me pain, and his affection 

 for me prevailed. "When, therefore, the letter of refusal for he sent 

 it to me came, it was accompanied by a second letter, canceling the 

 refusal and accepting the post. With William Spottiswoode I had the 

 happiness of working in close companionship for six years. The dili- 

 gence, wisdom, and success with which he discharged his onerous 

 duties the princely hospitality which shed a glow upon the office 

 while he held it are well remembered. Of the dignity with which 

 he afterward filled the high position now occupied by the illustrious 

 man who presides here this evening it is needless to 6peak. Him also 

 we have seen lowered to his rest, amid the grief of friends assembled 

 to do honor to his memory. Such were the men who served the Royal 

 Institution in the past ; and their example has been worthily followed 

 by other men of eminence, still happily among us. Never was an in- 

 stitution better served than the Royal Institution, and not by its 

 honorary secretaries alone. With singleness of purpose and purity of 

 aim, its successive presidents, boards of managers, and honorary treas- 

 urers have unswervingly promoted the noble work of investigation and 

 discovery. May they never lower the flag which, for well-nigh a cent- 

 ury, they have kept victoriously unfurled ! 



The year after my appointment I was called upon to deliver, in 

 conjunction with Dr. Whewell, Faraday, Sir James Paget, and some 

 other eminent men, one of a series of lectures on scientific education. 

 I then referred with serious emphasis to the workers in our coal-mines, 

 and to the terrible perils of their occupation. I pointed to the intel- 

 lectual Samsons toiling with closed eyes in the mills and forges of 

 Manchester and Birmingham, and I said, "Give these toilers sight by 

 the teachings of science, and you diminish the causes of calamity, 



