ADDRESS. IXXXV 



" large a meeting (which may perhajis consist of above 100 individuals), if 

 " the Philosopl^ical Society would enter zcalouslj' into the plan, and if the 

 " Mayor and influential persons in the town and in the vicinity would be 

 " likely to promote its objects. The principal object of the Society would 

 " be to make the cultivators of science acquainted Avith each other, to stimu- 

 " late one another to new exertions, and to bring the objects of science more 

 " before the public eye, and to take measures for advancing its interests 

 " and accelerating its progress." 



Of the little band of four pilgrims from Scotland to York, not one now 

 survives. Of the seven first Associates one more has gone over to the 

 majority since the Association last met. Yernon Harcourt is no longer witli 

 us ; but his influence remains, a beneficent and, surely therefore, never dying 

 influence. He was a Geologist and Chemist, a large-hearted lover of science, 

 and an unwearied worker for its advancement. Brewster was the founder of 

 the British Association ; Yernon Harcourt was its law-giver. His code re- 

 mains to this day the law of the Association. 



On the eleventh of May last Sir John Herschel died, in the eightieth year of 

 his age. The name of Herschel is a household word throughout Great Britain 

 and Ireland — yes, and through the w^hole civilized world. We of this genera- 

 tion have, from our lessons of childhood upwards, learned to see in Herschel, 

 father and son, a ivcesidium et dulce deems of the precious treasure of British 

 scientific fame. When geography, astronomy, and the i;se of the globes were 

 still taught, even to poor children, as a pleasant and profitable sequel to "read- 

 ing, writing, and arithmetic," which of us did not revere the great telescope 

 of Sir William Herschel (one of the Hundred Wonders of the World), and 

 learn with delight, directly or indirectly from the charming pages of Sir John 

 Hersehel's book, about the sun and his spots, and the fiery tornadoes sweeping- 

 over his surface, and about the planets, and Jupiter's belts, and Saturn's rings, 

 and the fixed stars with their proper motions, and the double stars, and 

 coloured stars, and the uebulaj discovered by the great telescope ? Of Sir 

 John Herschel it may indeed be said, nil tetitjitqvod non ornavit. 



A monument to Faraday and a monument to Herschel, Britain must have. 

 The nation will not be satisfied with any thing, however sjjlendid, done by 

 private subscription. A national monument, the more humble in point of 

 expense the better, is required to satisfy that honourable i^ride with which 

 a high-spirited nation cherishes the memory of its great men. But for 

 the glory of Faraday or the glory of Herschel, is a monument wanted ? 

 No! 



What needs my Shakespere for his honoured bones 

 The labour of an age in piled stones ? 

 Or that his hallowed rcliques should be liid 

 Under a star-ypointing pyramid ? 

 Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, 

 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name ! 

 Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, 

 Hast built tliyself a live-long monument. 

 * » * * 



And, so sepulchred, in such pomp dost lie, 

 That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 



With regard to Sir John Hersehel's scientific work, on the present occa- 

 sion I can but refer briefly to a few points which seem to me salient in his 

 physical and mathematical writings. First, I remark that he has put 

 forward, most instructively and profitably to his readers, the general theory 

 of periodicity iu dynamics, and has urged the practical utilizing of it, espe- 



1871. g 



