1872 Sir George B. Airy ; Henry J. S. Smith 405 



time seventy years of age and he lived at Greenwich, immersed 

 in the work of the Observatory. He probably felt that the 

 distance of his residence from London was an insuperable 

 obstacle to his being able often to dine with the Club. He 

 held the Presidentship for only two years, retiring on St. 

 Andrew's Day, 1873. Consequently, for a short time Sir 

 Edward Sabine continued to preside at the meetings of 

 the Club. It was not until the advent of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker to the Presidential Chair of .the Royal Society in 



1873 that the Club had once more its usual head. 



1872. At the Anniversary Meeting in 1872 held on 27th 

 June there were twenty-nine members present and General 

 Sir Edward Sabine presided. The statement by the 

 Treasurers showed that the expenses of the past financial 

 year amounted to 101 i2s. lod. and that there was a 

 balance in hand of 24 is. lod. The subscription for the 

 following year was fixed at 2 2s. There had been 22 

 dinners during the year, attended by 303 diners, of whom 

 54 were visitors. The average attendance at each dinner 

 was 14. 



Only one member was reported as having been absent 

 for twelve months. But he was " re-elected." 



The death of Sir Roderick I. Murchison since last Anni- 

 versary was announced ; also the resignation of Sir William 

 Erie. There were thus two vacancies, which were filled 

 by the election of Henry John Stephen Smith and Dr. 

 Owen Rees. 



The vacation dinners were arranged to be provided on 

 Thursday i8th July, 8th August, and I7th October. 



Henry John Stephen Smith was one of the most brilliant 

 men of his day. At Baliol he took a double first, but tended 

 most to the mathemathical side, becoming in 1860 Savilian 

 Professor of Geometry. He was the greatest authority on 

 the theory of numbers. At the same time he was an admir- 

 able classical scholar. And yet with all this genius and 

 learning he remained one of the most sociable of men, 

 humorous, witty, and charming in talk, author of endless 

 incisive but usually genial sayings, which passed from 



