47 Presidentship of Sir Joseph Lister 1896-7 



Two notable foreigners visited the Club on June nth- 

 Henri Moissan, a distinguished French chemist, author of 

 researches among the metallic oxides and on the origin of 

 the diamond. When he detected minute diamonds in the 

 Canon Diablo meteorite he shrewdly divined that the carbon 

 must have been originally dissolved in the liquid iron and that 

 by the sudden cooling of the outer portion of the meteorite 

 great pressure resulted on the still molten portion inside, 

 the carbon segregating into grains that assumed a crystal- 

 line form. To test the \alidity of this explanation he 

 experimented with his electric furnace and produced true 

 diamonds. The Royal Society in recognition of the value 

 of his contributions to chemical science elected him one of 

 its foreign members in 1905, and awarded him the Davy 

 Medal in the following year. In 1906 he was the recipient 

 of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He died in 1907 at 

 the age of only fifty-five years. 



Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald is an eminent German chemist, an 

 honorary graduate of several universities in this country, and 

 well-known among scientific men in England. 



One of the home guests this year was Sir Herbert Maxwell, 

 whose presence at the Club was no doubt more immediately 

 due to the personal friendship between him and his host, 

 Sir John Dalrymple Hay, both neighbours and owning 

 estates in Wigtonshire. Sir Herbert is the most versatile 

 of Scottish lairds. He was sixteen years in Parliament, 

 is a Privy Councillor and has been chairman of more than 

 one Royal Commission. Antiquary, historian, naturalist, 

 sportsman, skilled gardener and forester, and fond of 

 open-air life, he is also gifted with literary skill, and has 

 published many volumes which make pleasant reading. 



1897. In 1897 the Anniversary Meeting, held on 24th 

 June, was attended by twenty-nine members, and Sir 

 Frederick Abel took the chair. The Treasurers' balance 

 sheet showed the expenditure since last Anniversary to 

 have been 63 2s. 9d., leaving an available balance of 

 40 8s. 8d. The contribution was again continued at i. 

 The appointed twelve dinners had been held as arranged 



