1884.] Treasurers Address. 433 



had the pleasure of receiving several short papers, expounded in 

 person by their author, from a veteran in the study of animal mor- 

 phology, whose first communication to the Society bears the date of 

 1832. I need hardly say I mean Sir Richard Owen. 



A few words must be said with regard to the acquisitions made by 

 our library and collections. Our gallery of portraits has, through the 

 kind liberality of Dr. Wilson, of Florence, received two important 

 additions in the form of half-length original portraits of the distin- 

 guished mathematicians and philosophers, Leibnitz and Viviani, both 

 of whom were Foreign Members of this Society. When we remember 

 the warmth of feeling with which the rival claims of Newton and 

 Leibnitz to the invention of Fluxions or the Differential Calculus 

 were for many years discussed, and call to mind that the question 

 occupied the attention of a Committee of this Society in 1712, which 

 reported in favour of Newton's claims, we may rejoice that the heat 

 of the controversy is long since over, and congratulate ourselves that 

 the portraits of these rival intellectual giants now hang peacefully side 

 by side on our walls. The portrait of Viviani, the great geometrician, 

 the pupil of Galileo and the associate of Torricelli, and a contemporary 

 of Newton and Leibnitz, finds also a fitting resting-place in our gallery. 



Our portfolio of engraved and lithographic portraits of scientific 

 men has been considerably augmented by liberal donations from the 

 executors of our former President, the late Sir Edward Sabine, 

 through Mr. R. H. Scott. 



The Lalande medal, which had been awarded by the French 

 Academy to Sir Edward in 1826, and which, together with a Royal 

 Gold Medal, was presented to the Scientific Relief Fund, was by 

 the Council redeemed from the Fund, and will be preserved among 

 our other medals as a memorial of one who for so long a period 

 rendered important services to the Society. A bronze medal of our 

 distinguished Fellow, Professor Sylvester, has been presented to our 

 collection by the Johns Hopkins University, at Baltimore. 



The library itself has during the past year received by donations 

 about 380 complete volumes, besides about 240 pamphlets, and more 

 than 2400 parts of serials ; 24 charts have also been presented to it. 



With regard to our finances, I may venture to say, as your 

 Treasurer, that I consider them to be in a satisfactory condition. 



I must now turn to some of the subjects which, during the past 

 year, have occupied the attention of the President and Council, and 

 which in more than one instance hav*e brought them into communi- 

 cation with Her Majesty's Government. 



In July of last year a letter from the Treasury was received 

 requesting our opinion as to the desirability of subsidising the Armagh 

 Observatory, the income of which had been materially reduced, 

 owing to recent legislation in Ireland. In reply to this an answer 



