1903.] General Monthly Meeting. 413 



they look round and see bim no longer in his accustomed place, and 

 as for us who have been his fellow workers here, I am sure I may 

 affirm that until we ourselves are memories of the past, kind thoughts 

 of him, grateful reminiscences of his genial presence, will haunt this 

 place. In him the Royal Institution had a wise counsellor, a vigilant 

 guardian, a generous friend, and it is fitting that it should bear its 

 share in the wide-spread mourning for his death. 



I say wide-spread mourning, because many other public institu- 

 tions which he benefited by his services are suffering from the loss 

 of him, and indeed I might say that London and the whole country 

 are the poorer because he has gone. One of the great band of Engi- 

 neers, of Engineering Sculptors, if I might so call them, who during 

 the last century have been remodelling the face of the earth, perhaps 

 with some sacrifice of pristine beauty, but with a vast augmentation 

 of expression and meaning, one of that great band, he has left his 

 mark upon his times. Identified with no one monumental under- 

 taking, he has in scores of places done something to promote the public 

 health, to facilitate human intercourse, to improve our industries. 



In this theatre he spoke of himself not long ago, with character- 

 istic modesty, as one of the mediocrities who carry on the work of 

 the world. There was no mediocrity about him. He was a man of 

 commanding intellect, of excellent attainments, of quick and deep 

 insight, of choice humour, of unique personality ; and it was by virtue 

 of this combination of qualities, that he carried on his work in the 

 world in such a manner as to be always far in advance of his fellow- 

 labourers in the rank and file, and to secure on all hands honourable 

 recognition. 



But, gentlemen, the life is larger than the work of the man — and 

 it seems to me that Sir Frederick Bramwell's life was memorable and 

 beneficent. He always diffused around him a wholesome, genial, 

 hopeful, righteous influence, that has radiated away through realms 

 subtler than ether — through the thoughts and emotions of the fellow- 

 men with whom he was brought into contact, and that may continue 

 to reverberate when the structures of stone and of steel he erected 

 have crumbled away, for who can limit the range of the psychons 

 that we are each of us momentarily emitting from our brains ? 



It is consolatory to reflect that with Sir Frederick Bramwell 

 there was no rusting from rest or indolence, no piteous interval of 

 bodily enfeeblement or mental decay. He died with his harness on 

 his back. Far advanced in years, he carried into old age much of 

 the elasticity and vigour and charm of youth, and was always happiest 

 when he was most busily employed. I recollect hearing him describe 

 the premonitory attack of illness that carried him ofi" — a slight stroke 

 which happened three years ago — as " the melancholy result of a 

 fortnight's holiday." " I was quite well and very busy," he said ; 

 " but my family and my friends and doctors insisted on my having 

 a change, so I went away and was idle for a fortnight, and this is the 

 consequence." 



