May 26, 1856.] OBITUARY. 117 



nation, conveyed to you at an evening meeting during the session, to 

 issue this publication. They considered that such a work would bo 

 acceptable to the Members, and beneficial to the interests of tlio 

 Society, as a means of conveying early notices of the papers read 

 at the evening meetings, and of the discussions upon them ; also 

 as an additional means of readily disseminating geographical in- 

 formation to the Public, who are at liberty to purchase the numbers ; 

 and our thanks are due to Mr. Gal ton, and the Eev. Messrs. Clark 

 and Nicolay, and to our Secretary, for the readiness with which 

 they have undertaken the compilation and editorship. In starting 

 a publication of this description, the Council have been careful 

 to put on record, the restrictions under which this work is to be 

 published, that it may be kept within due control, and strictly con- 

 fined to the object for which it was intended. I conclude this notice 

 of our household matteis with recording the gratifying fact that 

 the obelisk to the gallant Bellot has been erected at Greenwich, and 

 the fund distributed ; and thus a great national testimonial has been 

 raised to the memory of that devoted individual, and a benefit be- 

 stowed upon his family. 



Obituary. ' 



It is my painful duty to inform you that, during the past year, 

 the list of Members who have passed away is unusually large. 

 Among them are many names well known to science and to the 

 world at large, of whose merits I can give little more than a very 

 limited sketch. 



In alphabetical order I have first to mention. 



Ad AMBON, John, Esq., one of the earliest Fellows of this Society, 

 and a relative of the celebrated traveller, Sir Eobert Ker Porter. 

 Mr. Adamson was the last surviving son of Lieut. Cuthbert Adam- 

 son, ii.N., who accompanied the Hon. Capt. Phipps, afterwards Lord 

 Mulgrave, in 1773, as 2nd Lieutenant of the ' Kacehorse,' in his 

 voyage of discovery towards the North Pole. He was born Sep- 

 tember 13th, 1787, at Gateshead, and was sent at an early age to 

 Lisbon. From his youth he was devotedly attached to the pursuits 

 of literature, became a member of the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of Newcastle in 1811, and one of its secretaries in 1825, 

 lemaining in ofiice up to the period of his death.- Mr. Adamson's 

 brief visit to Portugal in 1803 had left impressions on his mind which 

 were never effaced, and gave him that taste for Portuguese litera- 

 ture which he retained during the remainder of his life. In 1820 



