1890.] President's Address. 467 



General Sir John Henry Lefroy, who died last April, combined the 

 duties of his profession and of his responsible offices as Governor of 

 Bermuda, and, for a time, of Tasmania, with active scientific work in 

 relation especially to terrestrial magnetism, with which he was con* 

 nected by his post as director of magnetic observatories at St. Helena 

 and at Toronto. He is the author of a treatise on the subject, and 

 has entered into some investigations bearing on a possible cause of 

 local magnetic irregularities, which seem well deserving of considera- 

 tion. 



Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth, who was so high an authority on 

 all that relates to mining, and geology as beaiing upon it, was one 

 of our Fellows who repeatedly served on our Council and on various 

 committees, and by his sound judgment aided us in our deliberations. 

 Though his health had been failing for some time, his end came upon 

 us with startling suddenness. It will be remembered by many of the 

 Fellows that he was present at our conversazione on the 18th of Jun?, 

 and next morning he breathed his last. He was widely known as a 

 man of science, and was honorary Fellow of various societies on the 

 Continent. In him I have lost one who was formerly a colleague oi 

 my own as lecturer in the School of Mines. 



William Kitchen Parker held a very high place among biologists 

 in relation especially to the homologies of the vertebrate skeleton. 

 Notwithstanding the laborious nature of his profession, he managed 

 to find time for his scientific pursuits, and our ' Transactions ' con- 

 tain a large number of papers which came from his pen, and are 

 illustrated by elaborate drawings. So highly were his biological 

 researches thought of, that for several years means were found, 

 through an application of a portion of the Government Grant, foi 

 enabling him to dispense with the laborious work of his profession, 

 and devote himself to science. His genial disposition and vivacity of 

 manner, and, curiously enough, his personal appearance, reminded 

 one of Faraday. 



Dr. James Matthews Duncan, who died suddenly from heart 

 disease, was eminent as an obstetric physician, and was a man of 

 singular straightforwardness of character. 



Our Fellow Charles Handfield Jones died on the 30th of Septem- 

 ber. His chief scientific labours lay in the domain of pathological 

 anatomy. 



Alexander John Ellis, who died on October 28, devoted great 

 attention to philology and to the theory of the perfection of musical 

 sounds, and translated v. Helmholtz's work, " Tonempfindungen." 

 He had, shortly before his death, received an honorary doctor's degree 

 from the University of Cambridge. 



During the last year we have lost two out of our three senior 

 Fellows, Christopher Bice Mansel Talbot, a Fellow also of the Lit- 



2 K 2 



