there was no year during which he was not appointed to serve on a Royal 

 Commission or a Select Committee of the House of Commons, in very 

 many cases as chairman. Among the Commissions on which he served, 

 besides those already named, may be mentioned Exhibition of 1851, 

 Exhibition of 1862, the Cattle Plague, the Eeorganisation of the Civil 

 Service (the report of which is still known officially as " The Play fair 

 Scheme"), Pensions for the Aged Poor, the University of London, the 

 Herring Fisheries of the United Kingdom, Coal for the Navy. 



In 1846 he was appointed chemist to the Museum of Practical 

 Geology and Professor of Chemistry in the Government School of 

 Mines. 



As Special Commissioner in charge of the Department of Juries at 

 the great Exhibition of 1851, Playfair had an entirely new task before 

 him. This was the first International Exhibition, he had no precedent 

 to work upon, what he did was quite original, and it was so well done 

 that it became the model for all succeeding international exhibitions. 

 There can be no doubt that the success of the 1851 Exhibition was to 

 a great extent due to Playfair's clear view of what ought to be done 

 and of what could be done, and to his untiring energy in doing it and 

 in getting other people to do it. The value of this work was recognised 

 in the highest quarters and Playfair became a Companion of the Bath, 

 and an officer in the household of the Prince Consort. A more striking 

 proof of the value set by others on his services was the fact that he 

 was asked to undertake the same duty in connection with the Exhibi- 

 bition of 1862, as also that at the Paris Exhibition in 1878, the Prince 

 of Wales, who was President of the British Commission, appointed him 

 chairman of the Finance Committee. 



The 1851 Exhibition led in 1853 to the foundation of the Depart- 

 ment of Science and Art, and Playfair and the late Sir Henry Cole 

 were appointed joint secretaries. In 1856 Playfair became Inspector- 

 General of Government Museums and Schools of Science. These 

 offices he held till 1858, when on the death of Professor Gregory he 

 was appointed to the chair of Chemistry in the University of Edin- 

 burgh. In Edinburgh he created, practically out of nothing, a really 

 useful teaching laboratory. The rooms then available were very ill- 

 suited for the purpose and the funds quite inadequate, but he made 

 the most of the former and supplemented the latter, spending on the 

 department the whole of his professorial income during the first year 

 and a large part of it for several subsequent years of his tenure of 

 office. The University of Edinburgh is also indebted to Playfair for 

 the introduction of degrees in science. In 1868 Playfair was returned 

 as the first representative in Parliament of the Universities of St. 

 Andrews and Edinburgh. He was Postmaster-General in 1873, and 

 Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy-Speaker from 1880 to. 1883. 

 On his retirement from this office he was made K.C.B. At the general 



