William Pole. 119 



much of which his scientific acquirements were turned to good account. 

 He was specially engaged in the calculations for several large bridges, 

 in regard to some of which serious disputes had arisen. His theo- 

 retical work on the great Britannia Bridge was afterwards published 

 by the desire of Robert Stephenson. He received a Telford Medal from 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a Silver Medal from the Society 

 of Arts for applications of science to engineering problems. In one 

 case he facilitated a large and novel sewerage design by pointing out 

 modern French discoveries in hydraulic theory. He had much practice 

 in mechanical work; he superintended the provision of large railway 

 appliances, and was for many years Consulting Engineer for the 

 Govarnment Railways of Japan, for which he was decorated by the 

 Mikado with a high grade in the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun. 



He was one of the oldest living Members of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers. He served twelve years on the Council, and held from 

 1885 to 1896 the office of honorary secretary. In the latter year 

 he was elected by a special complimentary vote an honorary member. 



In addition to his ordinary business he did much literary work; he 

 wrote the biographies of some eminent engineers, and a great number 

 of articles bearing on science, some in first-class periodicals. 



He had studied astronomy; while in India he calculated and pub- 

 lished the Orbit of a new Comet that appeared there ; and he was 

 engaged by Government to give lectures in Navigation and the Theory 

 of Gunnery to the Indian Navy. He interested himself in the laws 

 of probabilities, and made large numbers of experiments and. observa- 

 tions in illustration of them. 



He studied music scientifically, and at the request of the then Presi- 

 dent of the Royal Society he delivered, in 1877, a course of lectures 

 at the Royal Institution in illustration of the application to music of 

 the acoustical discoveries of Helmholtz. He took the degree of 

 Doctor of Music at Oxford, and was for many years one of the Ex- 

 aminers at the University of London. 



When he was between 30 and 40 years of age he discovered that he 

 had the curious defect of vision called colour blindness, and in 1856 

 he presented to the Royal Society a paper descriptive of his case, 

 which, on the recommendation of Sir John Herschel and Professor 

 Stokes, was published in the Philosophical Transactions. He was 

 elected a Fellow of the Society in 1861 ; he served six years on the 

 Council, and in 1888 went to Bologna to represent the Society and 

 the University of London at the great Octocentenary Fetes held 

 there. 



In 1864 he was elected, without ballot, into the Athenaeum Club, 

 on the ground of scientific distinction. 



Until almost the end of his" long- life, Dr. Pole continued to take an 

 interest in the progress of science. 



