Xlll 



strength and deflexion of pillars and beams have been accepted with 

 implicit confidence, and now have a place in all engineering text- 

 books. 



Mr. Hodgkinson became a Member of the Manchester Philoso- 

 phical Society in 1826, and from 1822 to 1844 contributed seven 

 papers to its ' Memoirs,' chiefly on the mechanical principles of 

 engineering. He was also an active Member of the British Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, and contributed valuable 

 matter to the ' Transactions 5 and ( Reports' of that Association. 



The combination of experimental skill with mathematical know- 

 ledge which characterized Mr. Hodgkinson was turned to account 

 on the occasion of the construction of the Conway and Britannia 

 tubular bridges. He was engaged by Mr. Fairbairn to assist in 

 the experimental inquiry which it was deemed advisable to institute 

 before commencing those great and novel undertakings ; and he con- 

 tributed valuable formulae to Mr. Stephenson for calculating the true 

 results of the experiments. It is to the results which were then 

 obtained that we owe the application of wrought-iron plain and boxed 

 girders in the art of construction. For a similar reason he was in 

 1847 appointed on the Royal Commission to inquire into the properties 

 of wrought and cast iron, and their application to railway structures. 



In 1847 Mr. Hodgkinson was appointed Professor of the Mecha- 

 nical Principles of Engineering in University College, London, and 

 delivered several courses of lectures, although in later years delicate 

 health interrupted his labours. 



Mr. Hodgkinson married in 1841 Catharine, daughter of the 

 Rev. William Johns, of Manchester, an intimate friend of Dalton. 

 She died childless in little more than a year after her marriage ; 

 and, after remaining a widower till within eight years of his death, 

 he married for his second wife (who still survives him) Miss 

 Holditch, daughter of Henry Holditch, Esq., Captain in the 

 Cheshire Militia. He died at Eaglesfield House, near Manchester, 

 on the 18th of June, 1861. 



FRANCIS PALGRAVE, K.H., author of ' The Rise and Progress of 

 the English Commonwealth,' ' The Merchant and Friar/ 'The History 

 of England and Normandy:' born July 1788 ; died 6th July, 1861 ; 

 the only son of Mr. Meyer Cohen j assumed the name of Palgrave 



