Z PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



following close upon that of Mr. Waite to New Zealand, has 

 depiived us of an active worker of the stamp that we much 

 prefer to welcome rather than to lose. Mr. P. R. Pedley, OJie of 

 the oldest Members of the Council, has found it necessary to 

 withdraw; and in starting upon his visit to Europe on a well- 

 earned holiday Mr. Pedley will take with him our best wishes 

 for an enjoyable and invigorating trip, and a safe return in due 

 course. 



Since the last Annual Meeting w^e have had to deplore the 

 deaths of Dr. Sylvan us P. Langley, an Honorary Member, Mr. 

 William Mitten, a Corresponding Member, the Hon. William R. 

 Campbell, M.L.C.,and Mr. Alexander Grant, Ordinary Members, 

 and Mr. Frank E. Grant, F.L.8., and the Hon. Dr. James Norton, 

 Members of the Council. 



As philosophers we with fortitude recognise the inevitable 

 vicissitudes — accessions and departures — which enable the guild 

 or corporation not only to develop, but to remain intact and 

 immortal. Still, as " units of humanity," we cannot but feel a 

 deep sense of personal regret at the loss of our comrades and the 

 severance of old associations. 



Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley, the distinguished Secretary of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, and ex officio keeper of the United 

 States National Museum, Washington, died on February 27th, 

 1906. His conspicuous success as an administrator and his 

 zealous efibrts to develop the usefulness of these great Institutions 

 with their various ramifications, and to uphold their prestige, 

 have amply justified his selection to carry on the work inaugurated 

 by Professor Joseph Henry, and worthily continued by Dr. 

 Spencer Fullerton Baird. Dr. Langley had established his 

 reputation also as an accomplished astronomer and physicist 

 especially interested in the problems of aeronautics. His decease 

 has lemoved an influential and worthy disciple of science and 

 source of inspiration not only to his own countrymen but to the 

 wider brotherhood of science. Professor Langley was elected an 

 Honorary Member of this Society in August, 1891, in succession 

 to his predecessor Professor Spencer Eaird, in token of the 



