541 



cessive years attempted to form a class for a course on the principles 

 of analysis and their application. Those who are conversant with 

 the mode in which the mathematical studies of the junior members 

 of the University are prosecuted, will not be astonished that the 

 attendance was small. Not discouraged, he attempted to form a 

 class for astronomy, but though at first successful, the attendance 

 was not maintained in subsequent years. 



In 1838 Professor Peacock was appointed a member of the Par- 

 liamentary Commission for considering the steps to be taken for the 

 restoration of the Standards of Weight and Measure destroyed by 

 the burning of the Houses of Parliament. To the duties of this 

 Commission he gave his diligent attention, and it was indebted to 

 him for many valuable and useful suggestions. Of the Second Com- 

 mission, appointed in 1843 to carry out the report of the first by 

 the construction of new standards, he was also a member. 



In 1839 he was appointed to the Deanery of Ely, vacated by the 

 death of Dr. Wood, and with this appointment ceased, of course, his 

 connexion, as Tutor, with Trinity College, and his residence at Cam- 

 bridge other than such as the duties of his Professorship required. 

 In this position it is too little to say that he conscientiously devoted 

 himself to the performance of its duties. He went into them with 

 all the zeal of an earnest and pious spirit, and with all the energy 

 and prudence of an able and practical administrator. The vene- 

 rable and beautiful fabric of the Cathedral had fallen into grievous 

 decay, and had even become endangered by neglect. Its restoration 

 became one of his principal objects, for the accomplishment of which 

 he exerted himself with such success, that it remains distinguished 

 as one of the most beautiful specimens of our ecclesiastical archi- 

 tecture. He laboured hard to introduce, and he succeeded in effec- 

 tually introducing into the city of Ely, in spite of much opposition, 

 the sanitary measures required by the Public Health Act ; the result 

 being a material improvement of the recorded salubrity of the place. 

 Its educational establishments, especially the schools more imme- 

 diately connected with the Chapter, received from him the most 

 assiduous attention and active support, and its public charities his 

 vigilant supervision. These duties, however, neither withdrew him 

 from the pursuit of science, nor from his favourite and cherished ob- 

 ject of University Reform. In his Life of the late Dr. Young, and 



VOL. ix. 2 o 



