36 Annals of the Philosophical Club 



scientific societies, should they desire it. The opinion 

 was strongly expressed that Kensington, from its distance 

 and other inconveniences, would be quite unsuitable for 

 the meeting of scientific societies, and the feeling was 

 general that, so far as the Royal Society was concerned, 

 to remain in its present apartments would be the wiser 

 plan, unless a change would result in some general benefit 

 to science, such as that contemplated by the juxtaposition 

 of societies. 



1853. At the meeting on Jan. 27th, Mr. Grove suggested 

 the preparation, by members of different societies, of a 

 memorial in favour of juxtaposition, which should then 

 be presented to the Government. The Club requested Col. 

 Sabine and Mr. Grove to draw up such a memorial. 



This was read at the meeting on Feb. 24th, and unani- 

 mously adopted. It recapitulated the reasons, already 

 stated, in favour of the juxtaposition of, and a central 

 position for, the aforesaid societies, and impressed on the 

 Government the fact that the present dispersion of the 

 societies engaged in promoting the science of the country 

 was prejudicial to its progress. 



On March 24th, Sir H. T. de la Beche suggested convening 

 a public meeting of the signers of the memorial in favour 

 of juxtaposition, Sir R. Murchison remarking that this, 

 if it were done, should be as soon as possible. 



At the Anniversary Meeting on April 25th, Sir P. Egerton, 

 Col. Sabine, and Mr. Grove were appointed a committee 

 to draw up and issue a request to the memorialists to meet 

 and appoint a deputation to present to H.M. Government 

 the memorial in favour of juxtaposition. Dr. Hofmann 

 and Dr. Bence Jones were elected members of the Club. 



DR. AUGUST WILHELM VON HOFMANN was born at Giessen on 

 April 8th, 1818, and after studying philosophy, was attracted to 

 chemistry by Liebig. After teaching that science at Bonn, he 

 came to London in 1845 as Professor at the Royal College of Chem- 

 istry, where his classes were attended by several men who soon 

 began to make their mark. His talents and attractive personality 

 made him popular. He became F.R.S. in 1851, Warden of the 

 Mint in 1856, and President of the Chemical Society in 1861. He 



