Original Members 7 



working at botany, and, after passing his examinations, became 

 assistant-surgeon to a regiment. This ultimately brought him to 

 London, whence, through Sir Joseph Banks, he was appointed 

 naturalist to a ship sent to survey the Australian and Tasmanian 

 coasts. During his four years' absence he formed a large collection 

 of plants, many of them new to science, and, after his return in 1805, 

 became librarian to the Linnean Society, and to Sir Joseph Banks, 

 and devoted himself to working out and publishing the results of 

 these and other investigations. He acquired a high reputation for 

 his researches in vegetable physiology, received the Copley Medal 

 from the Royal Society, and from Oxford the degree of D.C.L., and 

 died Jan. loth, 1858, loved for the beauty of his character by his 

 many friends. 



SIR PROBY THOMAS CAUTLEY, distinguished both as an engineer 

 and a palaeontologist, was a Suffolk man, born in 1802 at Stratford 

 St. Mary. At the age of seventeen he obtained a commission in 

 the Bengal Artillery, but three years later was attached to Captain 

 Robert Smith, then engaged in reconstructing the Doab Canal, 

 an old irrigation channel, coming from the foot of the Siwalik Hills. 

 From this work he was called away to the siege of Bhurtpore in 

 1827, and, after the fall of that fortress, returned to the canal, which 

 was opened in 1830. Next year he was placed in charge of it, and 

 he was for twelve years engaged in constructing an upper section 

 a much more difficult task, because it crossed torrents from the hills, 

 and these were liable to sudden floods, which, however, he succeeded 

 in controlling. The Ganges Canal was a still greater work, for 

 here he had to deal with official opposition as well as natural obstacles. 

 The necessary surveys were begun in 1837, but the construction 

 not till 1843. Then a failure in health obliged him to take a long 

 furlough in Europe, which he utilized in increasing his knowledge. 

 During this interval he must have become a member of the Philo- 

 sophical Club, for he returned to India in 1848, and the canal was 

 opened April 8th, 1854. Sir Arthur Cotton criticised its plan, to 

 whom Cautley made a vigorous reply, but expert opinion seems 

 inclined to regard the former as more correct in theory, the latter 

 more defensible in practice. This work completed, Cautley returned 

 to England, and was created K.C.B. But while engaged on the 

 Doab Canal, he investigated the geology of the Siwalik Hills, aided 

 by Dr. Hugh Falconer (page 9), who came to Saharanpur in 

 1832 as superintendent of its Botanical Gardens. They made a 

 very large collection of fossil remains (now in the British Museum), 

 which supplied both with materials for many papers. Cautley also 

 wrote a book on canals, and served on the Council of India from 

 1858 to 1868, dying at Sydenham, Jan. 25th, 1871. 



PROFESSOR SAMUEL HUNTER CHRISTIE, distinguished for his 

 mathematical and magnetic investigations, was born in 1784, and 



