396 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



purely scientific purposes, necessary terminology, stating 

 them in good Saxon speech, and bringing them within the 

 ken of that great constituency whose information is so often 

 far ahead of their education, and who really form the chief 

 strength of the state. In the midst of the engrossment of 

 his daily avocations he had already done much in this direc- 

 tion, and had given large promise of much more. I regret 

 that almost my only intercourse with Mr Gibson was in this 

 room, before and after the meeting of the Society. Occasion- 

 ally we walked part of our way home together, and at such 

 times I was struck with his quiet and retiring disposition, 

 and with the happy knack he had of referring to views from 

 which he differed, without the least bitterness or want of 

 charity to those who held them. I once heard Sir James 

 Simpson say of a thoughtful medical man who died young, — 

 " He was older than some of us that are twice his age ! " 



" We live in deeds, not years ; in thonglits, not breaths, 



. He most lives 

 "Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 



Mr Gray and his assistant both joined the Eoyal Physical 

 when it was in the heart of one of those conditions of 

 decline, to which most institutions that are not buttressed 

 by endowments and an unfluctuating annual income are 

 periodically liable. A glance back on the history of the 

 Eoyal Physical acquaints us with several such periods of 

 crisis, brought about by a falling off in the number of 

 Fellows, and a low treasury in consequence. Now, how- 

 ever much we may deplore these conditions, it should be 

 kept in mind that the very specialty of our position, the 

 characteristic ground which we occupy, exposes us to this 

 danger. I am not going back on the periods referred to, 

 though I have been long enough connected with the Society 

 to be able to write the natural history of three of them. 

 But let us hark back for a moment. The retrospect may be 

 useful if not stimulating. In 1770, eighteen students of 

 nature agreed to meet periodically for mutual profit in the 

 pursuit of natural science, under the name of " The Physical 

 Society." Two of them, William St Clair and David 



