u8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



recommendation of Sir Robert Peel, on the commission to examine 

 into the sanitary condition of large towns and populous districts, on 

 which subject he made reports which are described as characterized 

 by great ability. This work done, he was appointed chemical pro- 

 fessor in the Museum of Practical Geology in London. He was given 

 an important part in the preparations for the Great Exhibition of 1851 

 in visiting the manufacturing districts, in the performance of which 

 duty he drew up a classification of the objects of industry, and en- 

 tered into personal communication with the manufacturers, whereby 

 he exercised an important and beneficial influence, and contributed 

 much to the completeness of the Exhibition. He was appointed, in 

 connection with this undertaking. Special Commissioner in charge of 

 the Department of the Juries, and at its close was made a Companion 

 of the Bath and appointed to a position in the household of the Prince 

 Consort. He was again given the Department of Juries in connection 

 with the Exhibition of 1862, and had the appointment of the six hun- 

 dred jurors ; and in 1878 he was appointed chairman of the Finance 

 Committee of the English Commission in the French Exhibition, un- 

 der the presidency of the commission of the Prince of Wales. When 

 the Department of Science and Art was established in 1853, he was 

 appointed joint secretary with Mr. Henry Cole. Mr. Cole became 

 secretary in 1856, and Dr. Play fair was made Inspector-General of 

 Government Museums and Schools of Science. In 1857 he was elect- 

 ed President of the Chemical Society of London, and in 1858 was 

 appointed Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, 

 where the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred (now Duke of Edin- 

 burgh) enjoyed the privilege of his instructions. 



He has served his country under ofiicial commissions, both in mat- 

 ters of scientific inquiry and in matters directly connected with politi- 

 cal administration and legislation. Of the former classes of service 

 may be mentioned his work in examining, in conjunction with Sir 

 Henry de la Beche, into the suitableness of the coals of the United 

 Kingdom for the purposes of the navy, his investigations into the 

 causes of accidents in mines, and his services in the Royal Commis- 

 sions on the Cattle Plague and on the Fisheries of the Scottish Coasts. 

 The final outcome of the work of the last-named commission was the 

 withdrawal of legislative restrictions on sea-fisheries. More intimately 

 connected with politics, but still" positions in which science has a part 

 to perform, are or have been his positions as a member of Parliament, 

 to which he was elected as a Liberal, in 1868, to represent the Univer- 

 sities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews ; as Postmaster-General, to 

 which ho was appointed by Mr.- Gladstone in 1873, and into which 

 department " Nature " at the time expressed the hope that he would 

 " endeavor to introduce something like scientific method " ; as Privy- 

 Coimcilor ; and as chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means 

 and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Of a character partly 



