XX VII 



rary member of the English, French, and German Chemical Societies. 

 These associations, the second of which originated in Dumas' labora- 

 tory, elected him as a matter of course immediately after their insti- 

 tution. In 1843 the Royal Society awarded to him the much-coveted 

 Copley Medal. That he was the first to obtain the Faraday Medal in 

 the gift of the Chemical Society of London, has been already men- 

 tioned. Dumas was a Knight of the Prussian Order pour le Merite, 

 the highest scientific honour Germany can bestow, and it may fur- 

 ther be added that he received the Grand Cross of the Legion of 

 Honour, and was a Knight of a goodly number of other Orders in 

 Christendom. 



In the autumn of 1883 Dumas' health, which up to that time had 

 been unimpaired, began to fail. By the advice of his physicians he 

 passed the winter in the south of France. He died at Cannes on 

 llth of April, 1884. A. W. H. 



[For further information the reader is referred to a sketch of 

 Dumas' life and labours, by Professor A. W. Hofmann, of which the 

 above notice is an abstract. See series of Scientific Worthies 

 ("Nature," 1880, Feb. 6).] 



A short account of the life of Dr. TODHUNTEE, founded on personal 

 knowledge, and information derived from papers and letters and 

 notes communicated by his relations, has recently been published by 

 his intimate friend, Professor Mayor. From this pamphlet we learn 

 that Dr. Todhunter was born in 1820, and that he was the second of 

 four sons of a Congregationalist Minister at Rye. We are also told 

 that as a child he was unusually backward, and gave no promise of 

 his future eminence. If this be correct, it is a fact from which many 

 boys may draw some encouragement. Passing over his boyhood we 

 find him an assistant-master in a school at Peckham, and at the same 

 time attending the evening classes at University College, and among 

 others the lectures of De Morgan. Here he seems to have come under 

 the fascination which so many of the pupils of that great teacher 

 experienced. We are told that his admiration for that mathematician 

 was unbounded. Need we wonder that the influence of that teaching 

 is seen in so many of the books he afterwards wrote ? In 1839 he 

 matriculated in the University of London, obtaining the exhibition 

 for mathematics, and in 1842 he carried off the scholarship at B.A. 

 Finally in 1847 he gained the gold medal at M.A., which was then 

 the highest honour to be obtained in that University. Having thus 

 acquired the means of coming to Cambridge he entered at St. John's 

 College, and took his degree in 1848. That he would be Senior 

 Wrangler and take the first Smith's Prize was never doubtful. 

 Coming up rather older than men usually do, and having brilliant 

 talents, he found himself so much in advance of his year that he was 



