376 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 25, 1857. 



importance. Lastly, examining ilie shores of the Irish Channel, 

 and performing much severe and valuable service to the detriment 

 of his health, he produced many highly useful charts, and threw 

 much light on the nature of the Channel tides. The result of these, 

 his last labours afloat, was the publication of two very able and 

 valuable memoirs in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' The first of 

 these (in 1848) was entitled ' A Keport of Observations made 

 upon the Tides in the Irish Sea, and upon the similarity of the 

 Tidal Phenomena of the English and Irish Channels,' &c. The 

 principal object of the author was to point out the independ- 

 ence of the set of the tide-current in those seas, on the actual state 

 of the tide as ebbing or flowing; and he showed, by a masterly 

 exhibition of the facts, that there is no apparent connection between 

 the direction of the stream and the rising or falling of the water. 

 In addition to this, he laid down instructions for ascertaining the 

 state of the tide, the value of which was much enhanced by two 

 explanatory charts and many smaller diagrams. 



This memoir, addressed to Sir F. Beaufort, was followed in 1851 

 by another letter to the same eminent hydrographer, which was 

 written with the hope that its contents, when sufficiently known 

 and circulated, would be the means of diminishing the number of 

 those losses of both life and property, with which the annals of 

 Lloyd's abound, and of advancing our knowledge of the tides, by 

 the practical illustration of the phenomena of the tidal streams of 

 straits under the influence of a combined wave.* 



After the cessation of his arduous maritime exertions, Captain 

 Beechey was appointed to the important post of Superintendent of 

 the Marine branch of the Board of Trade, the duties of which he 

 executed to the day of his death in a manner which drew from every 

 successive Minister of the Department, the warmest acknowledg- 

 ments of that clearness and precision of thought, and that skilful 

 perfonnance of official duty, which characterized our late President 

 throughout his whole career. 



Obtaining the rank of Rear-Admiral in 1854, he succeeded the 

 Earl of Ellesmere in this Chair in 1856, and we all know with what 

 sincerity he devoted his energies to the advancement of geography, 

 how ably he directed our proceedings, and with what urbanity he 

 presided over our meetings. Alas ! I have too much reason to 

 believe that the zealous endeavours he made to serve us, combined 



* Phil, Trans., 1851, p. 717. 



