286 A HISTORY OF 



Eclipses." Stoney held the post of professor of natural 

 philosophy in Queen's College, Galway, and was secretary 

 to the Queen's University in Ireland from 1857 to its dis- 

 solution in 1882. He paid much attention to physical 

 optics, to molecular physics, and the kinetic theory of 

 gases, and wrote works on the Physical Constitution of Sun 

 and Stars, and on the Atmosphere of Planets and Satellites. 

 For twenty years, during a period when its affairs demanded 

 close and unremitting attention, Dr. Stoney acted as secre- 

 tary to the Society, becoming a vice-president in 1893, and 

 he contributed largely to the Transactions. He won the first 

 Boyle Medal in 1899. Owing to his connection with the 

 Society, Government frequently consulted him on questions 

 affecting agriculture, fisheries, railways, &c. He was a con- 

 sistent advocate of the higher education of women, and in- 

 augurated the recitals of chamber music, now so marked 

 a feature in the Society's yearly programme. Dr. Stoney 

 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1861, be- 

 coming a vice-president in 1898. He died in 191 1, and 

 his portrait by Sir Thomas A. Jones, presented to the Society 

 by old students of the Queen's University, hangs in the 

 reception-room, Leinster House. 



The first stone of the Natural History building 

 was laid on the 7th of April 1856, by the Earl of 

 Carlisle, lord lieutenant. 



The British Association again met in Dublin in 

 1857, when the meetings of its council and of the 

 general committee of the Association were held in the 

 board-room, Leinster House, while the new museum 

 and the Botanic Garden were devoted to other purposes 

 in connection with the meeting. The opening meeting 

 was held in the round room of the Rotunda, on the 

 26th of August. On Dr. Daubeny resigning the chair 

 to Dr. Lloyd on the evening of the 27 th, the Royal 

 Dublin Society gave a conversazione, at which over 

 1500 guests were present, and the new museum build- 

 ing formed a prominent point of attraction. On the 



