THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 109 



NOTICE OF SMITHSON BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



Nowmher 30th, 1829. Davies Gilbert, esq., President of the Royal 

 Society, in his address to the society, mentions the death of Mr. Smith- 

 son as having occurred during the preceding 3^ear, or since the last 

 annual meeting of the societ}'', and remarks as Ibllows : 



"MriSmithson has added eight (8) communications to our transac- 

 tions. He was distinguished by the intimate friendship of" Mr. Caven- 

 dish, and rivalled our most expert chemists inelegant analyses ; but the 

 latter part of liis life has been passed abroad." — (Sec Philosophical 

 Magazine, 2d series, vol. 7, p. 42.) 



And again, in his address to The Royal Society, November 30th, 1830, 

 Mr. Gilbert, in speaking of Mr Smithson, says : 



" Of tills gentleman I must be allowed to speak with affection. We 

 were ;it Oxford together, of the same college, and our acquaintance 

 continued to the time of" his decease. Mr. Smithson, then called Macie, 

 and an undergraduate, had the reputation of excelling all other resident 

 members of the university in the knowledge of chemistry. He was 

 early honored by an intimate acquaintance with Mr. Cavendish ; he was 

 admitted into the Royal Society, and soon after jjrcscnted a. yaper on the 

 very cm-ious concretion frequently found in the hollow of bambii canes, 

 named Tahasheer. This he found to consist hlmost entirely of silex, 

 existing in a manner similar to what Davy long afterwards discoved in 

 the epidermis of reeds and grasses. Mr. Smithson enriched our trans- 

 actions with seven other communications; a chemical analysis of 

 SiOme calamines ; account of a discovery of native minium. ; on the 

 composition and crystalization of certain sulphurets tirom Huel 603^3, in 

 Cornwall ; on the composition of zeolite ; on a substance procured from 

 the elm tree called ulmine ; on a saline substance from Mount Vesuvius ; 

 facts relative to the coloring matter of vegetables. 



"He was the friend of Dr. Wollaston, and at the same time his rival 

 in the manipulation and anal3'sis of small quantities. Mr. Smithson 

 frcquentlv' repeated an occurrence with mucli pleasure and exultation 

 as exceeding an3'thing that could be brought into competition with 

 it, and this must apologise for my introducing what might otherwise be 

 deemed an anecdote too light and trifling on such an occasion as the 

 present. 



" Mr. Smithson declared, that happening to observe a tear gliding- 

 down a lady's cheek, he endeavored to catch it on a ciystal vessel, 

 that one-half of the drop escaped, but having preserved the other half, 

 he submitted it to re-agents, and detected wliat was then called micro- 

 cosmic salt, with muriate of soda, and, I think, three or four more sa- 

 line substances, held in solution. 



" For many years past Mr. Smithson has resided abroad, principally, 1 

 believe, on account of his health ; but he carried with him the esteem 

 and regard of various private friends, and of a still larger number of 

 persons who appreciated and admired his acquirements." — (See Philo- 

 sophical Magaji:ine, 2d series, vol. ix, p. 41.) 



