466 Presidentship of Lord Kelvin 1895 



The statement submitted by the Treasurers showed the 

 expenditure to have been 62 us. 8d., leaving an available 

 balance of 43 i6s. 5d. to be carried forward. It was 

 resolved that the contribution for the ensuing year should 

 be i. The usual twelve dinners had been duly held and 

 were attended by 181 persons, of whom 158 were members 

 and 23 guests. The smallest number at any dinner had 

 been six. 



Two members of the Club died during the year : J. W. 

 Hulke and Sir William Savory. Three members had 

 reached the age of fourscore and were therefore entitled 

 to be placed in the Honorary List H. Wollaston Blake, 

 Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney, and Dr. W. Pole. 



There were therefore five vacancies, and the list of candi- 

 dates contained five names. As the result of the voting 

 Professor Charles Vernon Boys, Major Percy Alexander 

 MacMahon, R.A., Professor Oliver Lodge, and Professor 

 William Ramsay were duly elected. 



Twelve dinners were sanctioned for the ensuing session, 

 to be held on dates similar to those of recent years. 



Of the four new members only one has since passed away 

 William Ramsay. This distinguished and much regretted 

 chemist, born in Glasgow in 1852, was educated at the 

 University there and at Tubingen under Fittig. In 1880 

 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in University 

 College, Bristol, and Principal of that institution in the 

 following year. He became Professor in University College, 

 London, in 1887. Of his many original contributions to 

 chemical science the most widely known was his investi- 

 gation in conjunction with Lord Rayleigh which led to 

 the detection of the new element Argon in the atmosphere. 

 In continuing this research he subsequently discovered 

 other gaseous elements in the air helium, neon, crypton. 

 Ramsay received many honours from all parts of the world 

 in recognition of the value of his labours. He was made 

 K.C.B., was awarded the Nobel Prize, and received the 

 Prussian order Pour le Merite. He was cut off by a painful 

 illness in 1916 in the sixty-fourth year of his age. 



