8o 



NA TURE 



[November 23. 1893 



The members 

 Limmer's Hotel 



the managers of 

 with which thev 



establishment, in 1889, the club migrated to Limmer's 

 Hotel, where it now meets. 



As the club grew older, the price of its dinners grew 

 with it, from " one shdhng and sixpence, for eating," in 

 1743, to ten shillings in 1843, at which latter price it has 

 remained ever since. The time of dinner has also changed 

 first from i o'clock to 2, and then successively to 3, 4, 

 42) 5. 52, 6, and 6|, the time of serving now. 



The bill of fare for the commemorative dinner last 

 Thursday was copied, spelling and all, from the earliest 

 menu preserved, that of March 28, 1748, and the price to 

 the members was is. 6d., the same as in the earliest days 

 of the club. 



The bljl of fare was as follows : — 



Two dishes Fresh Salmon, Lobster Sauce. 



Cod's Head. 



Pidgeon Pye. 



Calve's Head. 



Bacon and Greens. 



Fillett of Vcal. 



Chine of Pork. 



Plumb Pudding. 



Apple Cusiara. 



Butter and Cheese. 



are indebted to 

 for the readiness 

 entered into the project of reproducing a dinner on the 

 ancient model. 



As the month was November, salmon was not to be 

 had, so that other fish was substituted. An important 

 addition was made to the metiii, for a haunch of venison 

 was presented to the club by one of its members. 



In early days whole bucks, haunches of venison, 

 turtles, and barons of beef were not unfrequently pre- 

 sented, the donors being in each case elected honorary 

 members for the then current session. 



These contributions became rather inconvenient, and 

 on July 29, 1779, it was "resolved that no person in 

 future be admitted a member of this Society in conse- 

 quence of any present he shall make to it." 



The club consists of fifty ordinary members, and this 

 number is increased by ex officio members (present or past 

 office-bearers in the Royal Society) and by a few 

 honorary (octogenarian) and supernumerary members, 

 until the total in 1893 has reached sixty-one. Of these 

 forty-four were preheat on the i6th, with twenty-three 

 guests, making a total of sixty-seven. 



From the earliest times each member of the club has 

 had the privilege of bringing one guest with him, the 

 President for the day being not limited to one. This 

 practice of bringing guests has been generally carried 

 out, and a study of the list of visitors given in Admiral 

 Smyths "History'' shows that many of the leaders of 

 European science have at various times entered their 

 names in the club records. Berzelius, Cuvier, Gay- 

 Lussac, Linnaeus, and V^olta were guests of which any 

 club may justly be proud. 



We may also fairly assert, in conclusion, that since the 

 middle of the last century, there are but few names really 

 prominent in British science which do not appear in the 

 list of ordinary members of the Royal Society Club 

 at some time of its existence. 



THE DE MORGAN MEDAL' 



THE duty has this year devolved upon the Council of 

 making the fourth triennial award of the medal 

 which was instituted in memory of our first President, 

 the distinguished logician and mathematician, Augustus 

 De Morgan. In making their award, the Council are 

 not restricted in their choice to mathematicians of this 

 country, or to the recognition of excellence in any 



1 Address-to the London Mathematical Society, on the occasion of the 

 presentation of the De Morgan Medal, November lo, 1893, by the President, 

 A. B. Kempe, F.R.S. . yj. / , 



NO. I 256. VOL. 49I 



particular branch of mathematical science. It will 

 scarcely, however, be imputed to them that they have 

 been influenced by feelings of patriotism rather than by 

 scientific impartiality in having selected as the first three 

 recipients of the medal, Prof Cayley, Prof. Sylvester, and 

 Lord Rayleigh. The position of those eminent mathe- 

 maticians suffers no depreciation, if our survey is ex- 

 tended beyond the borders of our own country. On the 

 other hand we shall, I think, be equally exempt from 

 adverse criticism in the choice we have this year made 

 of Felix Klein, Profes:-or of Mathematics in the Univer- 

 sity of Gottingen, as the next recipient of the honour 

 which we are privileged to confer. 



Prof. Klein, who has for many years been enrolled in 

 our books as an honorary member of our Society, has 

 attained the highest distinction as a mathematician. In 

 estimating the value of his work, a mere consideration of 

 the advance due to him in our knowledge of the details 

 of special subjects would be sufficient to place him in the 

 first rank ; the wide influence of his work must be 

 apparent to anyone who studies the memoirs of writers, 

 of whatever country, on those subjects to which he has 

 set his hand. Let me in particular refer to his contribu- 

 tions to the geometry of complexes, and to non- 

 Euclidean geometry, to his memoirs on the theory of 

 equations, on the transformation of elliptic functions, 

 on the general theory of functions, especially in 

 exposition and development of Riemann's theory, to his 

 discussion of Riemann's surfaces, and, in more recent 

 times, his researches on Abelian and Hyperelliptic 

 functions, to his treatment of the polyhedral functions, 

 automorphic functions, and of the elliptic Modular 

 functions, the last of which is expounded in the treatise 

 by Fricke on the subject. One must not forget to record 

 the fact that his important memoir on the transformation 

 of elliptic functions in the Mathematische Aiittalen, vol. 

 xiv., was preceded by a communication made to our 

 Society in 187S ; Prof. Klein thus doing us the honour of 

 indicating in advance the principal results he had ob- 

 tained {F?-oceedi>ii^s, vol ix. p. 23). 



But, in the necessarily brief remarks to which I must 

 limit myself this evening, to indicate Prof Klein's claims 

 to distinction by dwelling upon individual subjects which 

 he has treated, would, I think, be warning in perspective 

 and proportion. Great as is the reputation which he has 

 acquired in connection with particular branches of 

 mathematical research, that which would seem to be his 

 especial merit is the comprehensiveness of his view, and 

 the uniformity of his treatment. For him the study of 

 one of his special subjects is the study of all ; the 

 binding influence b ing the theory of discrete groups, a 

 theory he has made his own. With this unity of concep- 

 tion he combines a great power of simple, elegant, and 

 interesting expression. The expositions of his method 

 contained in his early " Comparative Review of Recent 

 Researches in Geometry,' and his more recent " Lectures 

 on the Icosahedron," in which the formal identity of 

 investigations apparently the most diverse is made 

 apparent, belong to the romance of mathematics. The 

 important influence which his mode of investigation has 

 had and is destined to have on the progress of the 

 higher mathematics, the encouragement of largeness of 

 view, rather than the elaboration of minutiffi, and the 

 stimulating influence he exercises upon pupils who now 

 hold positions of eminence in Germany, must take a 

 foremost place among the grounds upon which we honour 

 Prof. Felix Klein to-day by the award to him of the De 

 Morgan Medal. 



NOTES. 

 The agricultural exhibit of Sir John Lawes and Sir Henry 

 Gilbert at Chicago appears to have been much appreciated by 

 our American cousins. The Association of American Agri- 



