Proceedings. [ February ^th, igoi. 



Ordinary Meeting, February 5th, 1901. 

 Horace Lami;, M.A., LL.I)., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



Before proceeding to the ordinary business of the meeting. 



The President said : " It would, I think, hardly be conso- 

 nant with the feelings of those present if some reference were not 

 made to the matter which has occupied all our minds for the last 

 fortnight. The death of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria occurred 

 almost simultaneously with the last meeting of the Society. The 

 days that have intervened have been marked by many striking 

 tributes to her memory ; 1 will not attempt, therefore, to say 

 anythirig as to the personal qualities 'of the late Sovereign, or 

 even as to the wider political aspects of her life which have 

 nowhere, to my mind, found more eloquent appreciation than in 

 the address of the Bishop at the Memorial Service in our 

 Cathedral. But in a Society like this, which claims some 

 antiquity among provincial learned societies, it may be 

 excusable to dwell for a moment on the fact that the period 

 of the late Queen's reign has been a period also of great 

 scientific discoveries, and (a matter in which we are no less 

 interested) of remarkable developments in the application 

 of science to practical uses. If we look at the records of the 

 Society, we find that the Queen's accession took place during 

 the long presidency of Dalton, whilst among his successors we 

 note such names as those of Hodgkinson, Fairbairn, and Joule, 

 as well as of Schunck and of others who happily are still active 

 amongst us. It might perhaps be debated whether a period of 

 profound internal peace, or one of revolutionary excitement, is 

 more favourable to the birth of great scientific ideas ; history 

 would doubtless furnish instances on both sides. But there can 

 be no question as to wh ch conditions are more favourable to the 



