Anniversartj Address of H. R. H, the late President. 59 



expressing tlie gratification whicli I experienced in June last, when 

 called upon to preside at that great convention of the most eminent 

 men who adorn our country, who combined together M'ith such sin- 

 gular unanimity and entliusiasm to pay their homage to science and 

 knowledge, and those great interests with which their cultivation 

 and progress are connected, by paying so signal a tribute of respect 

 and honour to the most accomplished and the most devoted of our 

 living philosophers. I feel assured. Gentlemen, that the proceed- 

 ings of that memorable day will produce marked and durable ef- 

 fects upon the scientific prospects of our country, by proving that 

 pre-eminent merit will meet with sympathy at least, if not with re- 

 ward, and as ofi'ering sure and unequivocal indications both of the 

 jjower and direction of public opinion amongst the most cultivated 

 and enlightened classes of society ; and it was chiefly as an expres- 

 sion of the deference paid by the government of this country to the 

 opinions and wishes of the scientific world, that 1 rejoiced in being 

 authorized and requested by the prime minister of the crown to 

 ofler to Sir John Herschel the rank of baronet, on the occasion of 

 the coronation of Her Majesty, though well convinced that such an 

 accession of social rank was not required to give dignity to one 

 whose name is written in the imperishable records of the great sy- 

 stem of the universe. 



It would ill become me, while gratefully acknowledging my sense 

 of your past kindnesses towards myself, to venture to refer to the 

 name of my presumed successor in the Chair of this Society in any 

 terms which might be interpreted as an undue anticipation of the 

 result of this day's proceedings, or as appearing to intei-fere with the 

 free use of the franchise which every Fellow possesses, and is ex- 

 pected and required to exercise ; but I cannot be ignorant of the 

 various accomplishments, the courteous and unassuming manners, 

 the warmth of heart and active benevolence which distinguish the 

 nobleman who has been nominated by the Council : and I rejoice 

 most sincerely that the Society possesses amongst its members, as a 

 candidate for your suft'rages, one so well qualified to preside at your 

 meetings, and to watch over your interests. 



Amongst the deceased members, I find twenty-seven on the 

 Home, and four on the Foreign list, including some very consider- 

 able names. I shall now proceed to notice such of their number 

 a.s have been most distinguished for tlieir scientific labours, for tlu^ir 

 jjublic services, or for their encouragement and patronage of science 

 and the arts. 



Tiiomas Andrew Knight, of Downton Castle, Herefordshire, the 

 President of t\\v. Horticultural Society of London, to the establisli- 

 nient and success of which he so greatly contributed, was born in the 

 year 1758. He was educated at Ludlow school, and afterwards be- 

 came a member of Baliiol College, Oxford. From his earliest years 

 lie appears to have shown a predominant tiiste for experimental 

 n^searches in gardening and vegetable physiology, wiiicli the inmie- 

 diate and uncontrolled possession of an ample fortune gave him 

 every opportunity of indulging ; proposing to himself iii fact, as one 



