llAY 25, 1857.] OBITUARY. 395 



During every phase of the rapid progress of chemistry, the gas-holder 

 which bears his name, has maintained its place as well in the 

 lecture-theatre, as in the laboratory of research. I have reason to 

 believe that the arrangement of the magnificent voltaic battery, by 

 which Davy decomposed the alkalies at the Eoyal Institution, was, 

 more or less, confided to Mr. Pepys : hence, probably, originated the 

 friendly regard in which he was held by that eminent philosopher. 

 In the Philosophical Transactions for 1823 there is a description of 

 a voltaic apparatus, consisting of two elements only, for electro- 

 magnetic research, made under Mr. Pepys' directions for the London 

 Institution. 



Let me add that Mr. Pepys was always anxious to associate 

 with those who, like himself, desired to cultivate science for its 

 own sake. He joined our Society at its commencement. He was 

 one of the early promoters of the London Institution, and an 

 original Member of the Geological Society. He was also a Member, 

 and an office-bearer in the Eoyal Institution, where he received 

 the honour of one of the ten Gold Medals awarded for chemical 

 discovery. He died at his house, Earl's Terrace, Kensington, 

 August 17th, 1856, aged 81. 



A Foreign Associate whose loss we have to deplore during 

 the past year is Baron von Hammer-Purgstall, the distinguished 

 Oriental scholar, poet, and historian. Attracted from his earliest 

 childhood towards the East and Eastern literature, no one has done 

 more good, in spreading the knowledge of Oriental History and 

 Literature amongst the literary circles of Western Europe, than the 

 learned author of the * History of the Ottoman Empire.* Born at 

 Gratz, in Styria, in 1774, he entered the Oriental Academy at 

 Vienna in 1788, where he attracted the attention of the celebrated 

 Jenisch, whom he assisted in the preparation of his edition of 

 'Meninski's Lexicon.' He subsequently entered the Austrian 

 diplomatic service as Interpreter at Constantinople, he then served 

 in the same capacity to the British army during Abercrombie's 

 campaign, and after acting as Attache to the Austrian Embassy at 

 Constantinople and as Consul in Moldavia, he was appointed Inter- 

 preter to the Vienna Chancery in 1811. From this time devotion to 

 Oriental Literature became the leading object of his laborious life ; 

 and when he subsequently quitted the public service he pursued his 

 favourite studies on his estates in Styi'ia. 



Some opinion of his active energy may be foimed from the long 



