430 Anniversary Meeting. [Dec. 1, 



veteran Mr. George Benthara, who had nearly completed his eighty- 

 fourth year. During his long and varied experiences of life, botany 

 was his constant pursuit and study ; and some thirty years ago, after 

 presenting his fine collections and library to the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew, he devoted himself to labouring there on the Floras of Hong 

 Kong and Australia, and, in conjunction with Sir Joseph Hooker, on 

 the " Genera Plantarum," until his health gave way in the spring of 

 last year. The exceptional value of his botanical work was recognised 

 by this Society in 1859, when a Royal Medal was awarded to him, 

 and his regard for the Society has been testified by his making a 

 bequest of 1,OOOZ. to our Scientific Relief Fund. 



Among mathematicians we have lost Dr. Isaac Todhtmter, whose 

 educational treatises have for many years been recognised as standard 

 works, and whose elaborate histories of different branches of mathe- 

 matical science have earned for him a high reputation; and Mr. 

 Charles W. Merrifield, who, in addition to achieving distinction by 

 his educational works on arithmetic and mathematics, did much in 

 the direction of the practical application of science, and at the Royal 

 School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering successfully 

 laboured in improving the stability and the sea-going powers of 

 the British Navy. 



Another distinguished mathematician whom we have within the 

 last few weeks had the misfortune to lose, was the Rev. Richard 

 Townsend, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of 

 Dublin, whose labours in the more abstruse fields of geometrical 

 speculation extended over a period of nearly forty years. Mr. James 

 Rennie was also a votary of mathematical research. 



Among practical men of science, the veteran Mr. Charles Manby, 

 who for forty-five years had been Secretary or Honorary Secretary of 

 the Institution of Civil Engineers, will deservedly take a high place. 



The anatomical and physiological labours of Professor Allen Thom- 

 son had extended over the longer term of fifty-four years, and few 

 possessed the power of clearer exposition than he, while for acts of 

 personal kindness there must be many besides myself who owe him a 

 deep debt of gratitude. 



Among others connected with the medical profession we miss the 

 distinguished surgeon Mr. Ceesar Hawkins, Dr. Alexander Tweedie, 

 and Sir Erasmus Wilson, whose name will long survive, not only in 

 connexion with dermatology and the Chair 'of Pathological Anatomy 

 at Aberdeen, but with the Egyptian obelisk, known as Cleopatra's 

 Needle, the presence of which in London is entirely due to his liberality. 



In Mr. R. A. C. Godwin- Austen we have lost one who for nearly 

 fifty years had ranked among the foremost cf English geologists. His 

 manifold observations will be recorded elsewhere, but as an instance 

 of his critical powers, I may mention his now classical paper on the 



