124 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1845. and his problem. A short account of this society is given 

 in the ' Budget of Paradoxes.' It gradually declined as the 

 harder life of the working man deprived him of leisure time, 

 or perhaps as the pot took the place of the problem ; and 

 in this year 1845 a proposal was made to incorporate what 

 was left of it into the Astronomical Society. Only nine- 

 teen members remained, and they were not working men. 

 Those who were not already members of the Astronomical 

 were received without payment of fees, and it only re- 

 mained to convey the books and other property of the old 

 society to the rooms at Somerset House. Mr. De Morgan 

 undertook to look over and to superintend the removal of 

 the books, which now form a small portion of the library 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society. 



Two or three years before this time, some gentlemen, 

 interested in the history of Science, had projected a 

 society to be called the ( Historical Society of Science.' 

 Mr. Pettigrew, Mr. Eichard Taylor, the printer, and 

 Mr. De Morgan were among the first of these. Mr. 

 J. O. Halliwell, the archseologist, had taken a prominent 

 part in the scheme, and became the secretary. My hus- 

 band, who had looked forward to useful results from the 

 work of this society, found in this year that it was be- 

 coming extinct for want of attention in collecting sub- 

 scriptions, and from general neglect. He immediately 

 called the attention of the other members to this state of 

 affairs, and the society came to an end without undue 

 pressure on the Secretary, who was not in circumstances 

 to meet it, but who incurred some blame from one or two 

 of the persons concerned. 



Rev. s. When my husband was a boy, living at Taunton, the 



Maitiand. j^ ey> g amue } Maitland, not then in orders, was his mother's 

 friend and neighbour. He afterwards became a friend and 

 correspondent when the subjects of his works formed part 

 of those over which my husband's studies extended. f His 

 series of essays " On the Dark Ages " was the most read 

 of all his works. He was one of a class of whose writings 



