1919] General Monthly Meeting 531 



The Chairman announced the decease, on x4.pril 5th, of Sir 

 William Crookes, and on April 29th, of Sir Frank Crisp, Bart., and 

 the following Resolutions, passed bj the Managers at their Meeting 

 held this day, were unanimously adopted : — ■ 



Resolved, That the Managers of the Royal Institution of Great Britain 

 desire to record their deep sense of the great loss sustained by the Institution 

 and the Scientific World by the decease of Sir William Crookes, Member of 

 the Order of Merit, Doctor of Science, Past President of the Royal Society of 

 London, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences, Paris ; Foreign 

 Member of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Rome ; the Royal Swedish 

 Academy of Sciences, and many other Foreign Academies. 



He was awarded the Royal, Davy and Copley Medals of the Royal Society ; 

 and in 1880 received a special Gold Medal and Prize of 3000 francs from the 

 French Academy of Sciences for his work on "Radiant Matter and Molecular 

 Physics." His original investigations in various departments of Science were 

 fruitful in the discovery of the element Thallium, the invention of the 

 Radiometer, and the isolation of Rare Earths. 



The discovery of radioactivity in 1896 led Sir William Crookes to devote 

 much attention to the study of this branch of Science, and he invented the 

 Spinthariscope, an instrument for rendering visible the new rays produced by 

 the spontaneous decomposition of Radium, known as the Alpha, Beta and 

 Gamma Rays. 



In his Presidential Address before the British Association in 1886, he drew 

 attention to the vital importance of the artificial fixation of atmospheric 

 nitrogen in connection with the production of wheat for world consumption, 

 and he subsequently published a book entitled " The Wheat Problem," the 

 third edition of which appeared in 1917. 



He carried out exhaustive researches on the composition of glass, and was 

 successful in the preparation of a glass opaque to the ultra-violet rays and 

 cutting off heat radiation, for the use of workers exposed to furnace glare. 



Sir William Crookes was a Member of the Royal Institution for forty 

 years, and gave ungrudging service successively as Manager, Secretary and 

 Vice-President. In all these offices his love and respect for the Royal Insti- 

 tution were fully expressed by the great work he did on its behalf. He 

 delivered four Friday Discourses on : 1. " The Mechanical Action of Light " 

 (1876) ; 2. " Molecular Physics in High Vacua " (1879) ; 3. " The Genesis of 

 the Elements" (1887) ; 4. "Diamonds" (1897). 



The Managers desire to express, on behalf of the Members of the Royal 

 Institution, their sincere sympathy with the family in their bereavement. 



Resolved, That the Managers of the Royal Institution desire to record 

 their sense of the loss sustained by the Institution through the death of 

 Sir Frank Crisp, Bart., LL.B. B.A. J.P. F.L.S. 



Sir Frank Crisp was a member of a distinguished firm of Solicitors, and a 

 leading authority on legal questions connected with industrial matters. He 

 was for many years Honorary Secretary of the Royal Microscopical Society, 

 and Treasurer of the Linnean Society of London. He rendered valuable 

 service to Horticultural Science, and was noted for his world-wide famous 

 gardens. 



Sir Frank Crisp was a Member of the Royal Institution for forty-one years, 

 and during that period served in the offices of both Manager and Visitor, and 

 showed his interest in the Institution by the delivery of a Friday Discourse in 

 1888 on " Ancient Microscopes." He enriched the Library of the Royal 

 Institution by the presentation of Miss Willmotfs elaborate work on " The 

 Genus Rosa," in 1914. 



On behalf of the Members, the INIanagers desire to express their deep 

 sympathy with Lady Crisp and the family in their bereavement. 



