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of his capacity confined to argumentative studies only ; for he not 

 only possessed a large fund of general information, but was also a 

 proficient in painting, and was well practised in the choral harmonies 

 of church music, in which science he was a strong amateur. 



"The Professor's lamented death, on the 1 Ith of June, 1860, was 

 the result of an attack on the lungs which commenced in the previous 

 winter. He had been duly warned of his danger by his medical 

 friends and attendants, several weeks before he expired ; but he was 

 resigned to the last, his only uneasiness being a difficulty of breathing, 

 which, after a few days of extreme debility, terminated his existence. 

 He died at his house in Stanhope Street, Hyde Park Gardens, at the 

 age of 63, having scarcely ever been ill before." 



Professor Powell was elected into the Royal Society in 1824, and 

 repeatedly served on the Council. He was three times married, and 

 leaves a numerous family. His widow is the daughter of Admiral 

 W. H. Smyth, Fellow and formerly Foreign Secretary of the Royal 

 Society. 



WILLIAM SIMMS was born at Birmingham, in December 1793. 

 His parents having removed to London, he was apprenticed to Mr. 

 Bennet, a mathematical instrument maker, who had formerly worked 

 under the eye of Ramsden. Mr. Simms afterwards commenced busi- 

 ness at Bowman's Buildings, Aldersgate Street, where he constructed 

 the large theodolites required by Colonel Colby for the Ordnance 

 Survey, and established his reputation for excellence of workman- 

 ship. In 1826 he joined Troughton, and ultimately became sole 

 proprietor of the well-known business in Fleet Street. The Cam- 

 bridge Mural Circle, the whole of the instrument maker's part of 

 the Greenwich Altazimuth, Transit Circle (for which he ground 

 the 8-inch object-glass), Reflex Zenith-tube and Great Equatoreal, 

 are monuments of his skill and ability. By the invention of his 

 self-acting dividing machine, he reduced the process of graduation 

 of instruments from a work of weeks to a work of hours, and with 

 greater accuracy than before. The best evidence of the value of this 

 machine appears in the fact that it was used to graduate the Zenith- 

 distance Circle at the Greenwich Observatory. He took part also in 

 the preliminary experiments required for the construction of the new 

 Imperial Standard yard, and in the completion of that instrument. 



