DR. BALFOUR STEWART. 359- 



DE. BALFOUR STEWAET. 



AMONG English physicists Dr. Balfour Stewart holds a dis- 

 tinguished place for the originality and extent of his experi- 

 mental researches, the grasp of his subtile and comprehensive inqui- 

 ries, and the boldness and freedom of many of his speculations. 



He was the son of a merchant, and was born in Edinburgh, 

 November 1, 1828. At the age of fourteen he went to the University 

 of St. Andrews, and afterward to that of Edinburgh, from which he 

 graduated. During his college course he paid a great deal of atten- 

 tion to pure mathematics, and is credited with having rediscovered, 

 independently of books. La Grange's method of deaUng with the dif- 

 ferential calculus. After leaving college he spent four years in a mer- 

 cantile house, and was for two or three years in Australia ; but his 

 father's preference that he should be a merchant did not coincide with 

 his own inclinations, and he at length determined to devote his life to 

 physical science. 



On his return from Australia, he was so fortunate as to secure the 

 friendship of the late Principal Forbes, and became his assistant in 

 Edinburgh for three years, 1856-'57-'58. 



Dr. Stewart has been Director of the Magnetic Observatory at 

 Kew, where he has made numerous and important magnetical observa- 

 tions in connection with the eminent physicist, Mr. Warren De la Rue, 

 He is Professor of Physics in Owens College, Manchester, a Fellow of 

 the Royal Society of Great Britain, of the Astronomical and Meteoro- 

 los:ical Societies of London, and of various learned bodies on the 

 Continent and in the United States. He received the degree of 

 LL. D. from Edinburgh University, and in 1868 the Rumford Medal 

 of the Royal Society for his researches in light and heat. 



Dr. Stewart has been a very active worker in the scientific field, 

 and is the author of many publications, especially in the branches of 

 meteorology, magnetism, and solar physics, of which the following 

 are the most important : 



Papers connected with Heat and Light. 1. An Account of Some 

 Experiments on Radiant Heat, involving an Extension of Prevost's 

 Theory of Exchanges (Transactions of Royal Society, Edinburgh, 

 1858). 2. Researches on Radiant Heat, Second Series (Transactions 

 of Royal Society, Edinburgh, 1859). 3. On the Light radiated by 

 Heated Bodies (Proceedings of Royal Society, London, 1860). 4. On 

 the Nature of the Light emitted by Heated Tourmaline (Proceedings 

 of Royal Society, London, 1860). 5. Internal Radiation in Uniaxal 

 Crystals (Proceedings of Royal Society, London, 1861). 6. Report 

 on the Theory of Exchanges (British Association, 1862). 



Papers connected with Meteorology., Magnetism^ and Sun-spots.. 



