iv 



of the Astronomical Society ; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society in 1848. He died June 14, 1861. He will stand high 

 among those of his day (no small number) who have devoted com- 

 mercial wealth to the increase of knowledge ; and will be remem- 

 bered with all the additional honour due to uprightness and be- 

 nevolence. 



Sir WILLIAM CUBITT was the son of a miller of Dilham, in Nor- 

 folk, and at an early age was apprenticed to a joiner. 4 After some 

 years spent in the exercise of his trade, and in the works required 

 for repairing the mills of the district, he entered the factory of 

 Messrs. Kansome of Ipswich. In their employment Sir William 

 became practically acquainted with the details of Civil Engineering ; 

 and about this period of his life he invented the self-winding appa- 

 ratus of windmills, and the now well-known instrument of prison 

 discipline, the tread-wheel. About 1826 he removed to London and 

 began business on his own account as a civil engineer, and in time 

 attained the foremost rank in his profession. The works executed 

 by Sir William Cubitt on the Norfolk and Lowestoft Navigation, 

 on the Severn Navigation, the South-Eastern and the Great North- 

 ern Railways, the landing-stages at Liverpool, the new Rochester 

 Town Bridge, the Berlin Water-works, &c., may be referred to as 

 illustrations of his practical skill ; and it is not too much to say that 

 the manner in which the South-Eastern line is carried between 

 Folkestone and Dover is one of the boldest pieces of engineering of 

 which we have examples in England. In 1851 Sir William was 

 charged with the superintendence of the working details of the Great 

 Exhibition building, and for his exertions on that occasion he re- 

 ceived the honour of knighthood. 



Sir William Cubitt was born in 1785, and died October 13th, 

 1861. The date of his election into the Royal Society is April 1, 

 1830. 



Dr. WILLIAM HENRY FITTON, who died in London on the 13th 

 of May, 1 86 1 , was born in Dublin in January 1 780. His family was 

 originally of Cheshire, but had long been settled in Ireland. After 

 passing through his school education, he entered Trinity College, 

 Dublin, and in 1798, through his proficiency in classics, obtained the 



