SIR DAVID GILL. 885 



Prussian order "Pour le Merite" in 1910. He was a correspondent 

 of the Institute of France and of the Paris Bureau of Longitudes; 

 a foreign member of the Academies of Sciences in Berhn, Rome, St. 

 Petersburg, Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Stockholm; a foreign member 

 of the National Academy of Sciences, of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, of the American Philosophical Society, of the 

 Italian Spectroscopic Society, etc. ; an honorary member of the New 

 York Academy, of the American Astronomical Society, etc. He was 

 president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 in 1907-8. He was honored by appointments to many other national 

 positions in South Africa and in Great Britain. He received the 

 Watson Gold Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1900; 

 the Bruce Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 

 1900; the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1882, 

 and a second time in 1908; the Valz Medal of the Paris Academy in 

 1882; and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society in 1913. 



Gill retired from ser\-ice at the Cape in 1907. His lamented death 

 occurred in London on January 24, 1914. The intervening seven 

 3 ears were devoted assiduously to the advancement of astronomical 

 and related sciences and to public service. Shortly before his death 

 appeared his "History of the Cape Observatory," a record of remark- 

 able achievement which all astronomers should read. 



Sir David Gill made for himself a place in the front rank of astrono- 

 mers. 



This biography would be seriously lacking if it failed to mention 

 Lady Gill. It was with her approval that the change from a lucrati^'e 

 business to the small income of an astronomical position was made 

 in 1872. Her assistance and encouragement were invaluable on the 

 expedition to Ascension, and to Gill's life of twenty-eight years at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



W. \V. Campbeli-. 



