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village of Eaglesfield was the birthplace of Dalton, — perhaps the 

 greatest of chemists, and a true philosopher in every sense of the 

 word. The late Professor Sedgwick said of Dalton, "from the 

 hour of his birth the God of nature laid His hand upon him and 

 ordained him to the ministration of high philosophy." With such 

 associations as these our good old town may well be proud, and 

 they justify my statement, if justification were needed, that to-night 

 we meet in an appropriate place. To-morrow, literature will be 

 most appropriately represented by Professor Knight ; this evening, 

 I rejoice to say, science will be represented by its acknowledged 

 chief, the Astronomer-Royal. 



Fortunately foi me, and fortunately for you, the presence of 

 these distinguished men renders it unnecessary for me to attempt 

 to do much more than to endeavour to discharge the formal duties 

 cast upon me by the office of President. But as something may 

 reasonably be expected from me even under these circumstances, 

 I propose to direct your attention for a short time to the labours 

 and achievements of another Cumberland worthy who rendered 

 services to science and to the welfare of the human race of a very 

 high order. I allude to George Graham, who was born in the 

 Parish of Kirklinton in the year 1673. 



When the late Dr. Lonsdale was engaged in writing his 

 interesting series of volumes on the Wort/iics of Cumberland, I 

 drew his attention to the important part which George Graham 

 played in the scientific progress of the age in which he lived, and 

 pointed out that whilst he had written the lives of many Cumbrians 

 of lesser note, he had omitted all mention of the most distinguished 

 man of science that Cumberland ever produced, with the single 

 exception of Dalton. Versatile and laborious as were the Doctor's 

 researches, his reading had not been directed very much to 

 mechanics and astronomy, and therefore he had heard but little of 

 George Graham, and he was not at that time even aware that he 

 was a Cumberland man. The life of Graham occupies a prominent 

 place in the last volume of the Cumberland Worthies, which 

 appeared shortly before the Doctor's death. When he had the 

 volume in hand, his health had become much impaired, and at 



