1 82 SIR GEORGE DARWIN 



In the autumn he received the honour of being 

 made a K.C.B. The distinction was doubly valued 

 as being announced to him by his friend Mr. Balfour, 

 then Prime Minister. 



From 1899 to 1900 he was President of the 

 Royal Astronomical Society. One of his last 

 Presidential acts was the presentation of the 

 Society's Medal to his friend M. Poincare. 



He had the unusual distinction of serving twice 

 as President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 

 once in 1890-92 and again 1911-12. 



In 1 89 1 he gave the Bakerian Lecture^ of the 

 Royal Society, his subject being "Tidal Predic- 

 tion." This annual praelection dates from 1775, 

 and the list of lecturers is a distinguished roll of 

 names. 



In 1897 he lectured at the Lowell Institute at 

 Boston, and this was the origin of his book on 

 Tides, published in the following year. Of this 

 Sir Joseph Larmor says^ that "it has taken rank 

 with the semi-popular writings of Helmholtz and 

 Kelvin as a model of what is possible in the exposi- 

 tion of a scientific subject." It has passed through 

 three English editions, and has been translated into 

 many foreign languages. 



International Associations. 



During the last ten or fifteen years of his life 

 George was much occupied with various Inter- 

 national bodies, e.g. the International Geodetic 



1 See Prof Brown's Memoir, p. xlix. 



^Nature, 1912. See also Prof. Brown's Memoir, p. 1. 



