500 REPORT— 1902. 



It is, perhaps, in connection with this latter subject that his most important 

 ■work was done. He made in association with Sabine an elaborate series of 

 observations on terrestrial magnetism in twenty-four stations in various parts of 

 Ireland, and when subsequently, at the instance of this Association and of the 

 Royal Society, the Government established magnetic observatories in different 

 parts of the world, it was Lloyd who was entrusted with the task of drawing up 

 the manual of instructions for the observers and of receiving their reports. 



In the interval between the two Ijloyds another name claims attention. 

 Dr. Romney Robinson occupied during an exceptionally long life a much honoured 

 and influential position amongst men of science. It was in this city he received 

 his early education, for when young Robinson was only nine years of age his 

 father had occasion to move to Belfast, and he placed his son under Dr. Bruce, a 

 well-known scboolmaster of those days. Robinson was afterwards sent to Trinity 

 College, and after a distinguished course was elected to a Fellowship in 1814. 

 For some years he lectured in college as Deputy Professor of Natural Philosophy. 

 He relinquished his Fellowship on obtaining a College living, and a few years later 

 was appointed Astronomer in charge of the Armagh Observatory. The results of 

 his observations were considered so valuable as to be used by the German astronomer 

 Argeliinder in determining the proper motions of stars. The range, however, of 

 his published papers was by no means confined to Astronomy, but extended to the 

 most varied subjects, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Turbines, Air-pumps, Fog- 

 signals, and others. He is best known to the general public as the inventor of the 

 Oup Anemometer. He was chosen to preside over the Birmingham Meeting of 

 this Association in 1849. 



Robinson was intimately associated with Lord Rosse and keenly interested in 

 the experiments which culminated in the construction of the great reflector in 

 Parsonstown. This naturally leads us to speak of Lord Rosse himself. Few 

 scientific achievements took a greater hold upon the public mind than the suc- 

 cessful completion of his great telescope. Only those who have read in Lord 

 Rosse's own papers the description of the many difficulties he had to contend with 

 in forging and polishing that wonderful speculum, harder than steel yet more 

 brittle than glass, can adequately appreciate the patience and resource with which 

 those difficulties were successively overcome. 



Of the results obtained with this instrument the most notable were in the 

 observation of the Nebulae, a department where its unsurpassed power of light-con- 

 centration came fully into play. No doubt at the time public attention was most 

 excited by the resolution of a number of hitherto supposed nebulte into star 

 clusters, leading to the premature conclusion in the minds of those less instructed 

 that all the nebulae might ultimately be so resolved. To us, however, a far 

 greater interest attaches to the observation of the structure of what we now know 

 to be genuine nebulae, especiall}^ the great discovery that these had in many cases 

 a peculiar spiral form. All previous telescopes had failed to detect this spiral 

 character; but the drawings taken by Lord Rosse and his assistants put this 

 feature beyond question, and these have been fully confirmed in recent years, when 

 more accurate delineations were obtained by photography. I need not dwell upon 

 the significance of tliis form, indicating, as it does, a rotatory movement in these 

 mighty masses and fitting in with, if not actually confirming, Laplace's Nebular 

 Hypothesis. 



Sir William Rowan Hamilton was undoubtedly the most striking figure in 

 the annals of the Dublin School of Mathematics. In limijie we must make good 

 our right to call him an Irishman, for his greatest admirer and disciple. Pro- 

 fessor Tait, has claimed him for a countryman of his own, asserting that 

 Hamilton's grandfather was a Scotchman who migrated to Dublin with his two 

 young sons. That this was a complete misconception has been abundantly proved 

 by the careful investigations of his friend and biographer, Dr. R. P. Graves, who 

 shows conclusively that the only known strain of Scotch blood in Hamilton came 

 through his grandmother, who was the daughter of a minister of the Ohui'ch of 

 Scotland. 



It is interesting to find how early Hamilton's remarkable mental powers began 



