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GEOKGE SALMON.* 18191904. 



GEORGE SALMON was born in Dublin on September 25, 1819. He- 

 came of a respectable Cork family, and received his school education in 

 his own county. He matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, when 

 only fourteen, and graduated in the year 1838. He was elected to a 

 scholarship in classics in 1837, and at the honour degree examination 

 in 1838 he obtained the first Senior Moderatorship in Mathematics. 

 In 1840 he was awarded the Madden's premium on the results of the 

 Fellowship examination having, in the opinion of the examiners, " best 

 deserved to succeed if another Fellowship had been vacant." In the 

 following year he was elected to a fellowship, and to the end of his 

 long life he remained in the closest contact with Trinity College. He- 

 died in the Provost's House on January 22, 1904. 



A Fellow of Trinity College receives the nominal salary of ,40 a 

 year, Irish currency. He is, however, elected, as a matter of course, to 

 a tutorship, generally immediately after obtaining his Fellowship, 

 although he may have to wait some little time for a vacancy. Further- 

 more, the Board, which is the supreme governing body of the Univer- 

 sity, is composed of the Provost and seven Senior Fellows. The 

 Provost is appointed by the Crown. The Senior Fellows attain their 

 positions in virtue of seniority. 



A tutor is required to lecture twice a day during term, to assist at 

 the ordinary examinations and to advise and direct his pupils. As a 

 rule, the tutorial lectures are delivered to classes of from fifteen to- 

 twenty-five pass-men. Frequently a tutor, especially a man of marked 

 ability, is appointed honour-lecturer, and he may be re-appointed year 

 after year. An honour-lecturer is relieved of one of his classes of pass- 

 men. Such was Salmon's tutorial work until he received the Regius 

 Professorship of Divinity in 1866. 



In accordance with the old rule which required Fellows of Trinity 

 College to take Holy Orders, Salmon was ordained in 1844. He began 

 at once to take part in the work of the Divinity School, as an assistant 

 to the Regius Professor of Divinity, a post he held for twenty years, 

 " His duties in this department were not very exacting, but they kept 

 alive his interest in ecclesiastical questions. He was early recognised 

 as a preacher of ability. His sermons were marked by originality of 

 conception, vigorous common sense in the treatment, and a bold and 

 striking, though unadorned style."! In 1852 Archbishop Whately 



* The notices in the Times and in " Nature " hare been of great assistance in 

 drawing up this account of Dr. Salmon's life and work, 

 f The Times' obituary notice. 



