20 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



GENERAL SIR EDWARD SABINE, son of a Hertfordshire squire, 

 was born at Dublin on Oct. I4th, 1788, and obtained from Woolwich 

 a commission in the Royal Artillery. After Gibraltar and home 

 service, he was taken on his way to Canada, in May 1813, by an 

 American privateer. But an English frigate recaptured his vessel, 

 and he obtained credit during active service on the Niagara frontier. 

 On his return to England, he studied astronomy, terrestrial magnet- 

 ism and ornithology, accompanied as astronomer Sir John Ross 

 to Greenland, and wrote a book on its birds and the Esquimaux 

 of its western coast. In 1819 he went away for a year and a half 

 with Captain Parry on another Arctic expedition, having become 

 F.R.S. the previous year. His next task was to ascertain the 

 variations in the length of the seconds' pendulum at different places, 

 in order to determine the earth's figure. Then he joined Sir J. 

 Herschel in observing the exact difference in the longitudes of the 

 Greenwich and Paris observatories, followed by ascertaining the 

 relative lengths of the seconds' pendulum at Greenwich, London, 

 Paris, and Altona, and the absolute length at the first place. Recalled 

 to military duties in 1834, he was still able, while stationed in Ireland, 

 to continue scientific work, the result being the first magnetic survey 

 of the British Isles and the establishment of magnetic observatories 

 by our Government in different parts of the globe. Elected to the 

 Royal Society in 1818, he received its Copley Medal, and, after 

 serving as Foreign Secretary and Treasurer, was President from 

 1861 to 1871. In the army he rose to the rank of General, and 

 was created K.C.B. in 1869. Full of years and well-earned honours, 

 he died at Richmond on June 26th, 1883. 



PROFESSOR WILLIAM SHARPEY was born on April ist, 1802, at 

 Arbroath in Forfar, though his father was from Kent, passed through 

 the University of Edinburgh, and, after further study in London 

 and Paris, took the M.D. degree there in 1823. Returning to 

 Arbroath, he was in practice for about three years and then abandoned 

 it for science, starting on a long journey through France to Naples, 

 and back by Venetia, Austria, and Prussia, halting at the chief centres 

 for study. Settling in London, he began to teach, and was appointed, 

 in 1836, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in University College, 

 where he attracted large classes. He was admitted to the Royal 

 Society in 1839, and served as its Secretary from 1853 to 1872. 

 Resigning his chair in 1874, he died in Torrington Square on April 

 nth, 1880, a man remarkable for his varied knowledge, his accurate 

 memory, and his sound discrimination. 



PROFESSOR EDWARD SOLLY was born in London, Oct. nth, 

 1819, studied chemistry in Berlin, and began early to lecture in 

 London and to write. In 1843 he was elected into the Royal 

 Society, and two years later appointed Professor of Chemistry at 

 Addiscombe. He was also noted for his wide genealogical and 



