INAUGURAL GENERAL MEETING. XXXl 



INAUGUEAL GENERAL MEETING. 



Tuesday, August 24, 1920. 



In the course of his speech introducing his successor, the President, 

 the Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S., said: — 



Tiie General Committee have authorised me to send the following telegram 

 to His Majesty the King : — 



YouB Majesty, 



The members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 desire to express their loyal devotion to your Majesty, and at this their meeting 

 in the Principality of Wales hope that they may be permitted to congratulate 

 your Majesty on the splendid work done by the Prince of Wales, which has 

 drawn towards him the thoughts and the hearts of the whole Empire. 



We have to record with deep regret that since our meeting at Bournemouth 

 last year the Association has lost two of its most devoted and valued officers. 



Prof essor John Perry, F.R.S., General Treasurer of the Association since 1904, 

 died at his London residence on August 4 at the age of seventy. He had only 

 returned two months ago from a long voyage round South America, undertaken 

 for the benefit of his health. It had, however, not produced the desired result; 

 the affection of his heart increased, and the end came suddenly. Professor 

 Perry was widely known as an eminent mathematician, and as one who had 

 directed most of his life to introducing mathematics as a practical science— 

 his numerous books are well known in this country and America, and have 

 been translated into many foreign languages. He was at one time assistant 

 to Lord Kelvin, and helped in the perfecting of the Kelvin electrostatic volt- 

 meter. In association with Ayrton tie was a pioneer in the early developments 

 of electrical instruments, storage batteries, and on the applications of elec- 

 tricity. He was a Past-President of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and 

 of the Physical Society. One of his most famous lectures was on ' Spinning 

 Tops,' delivered at the British Association meeting at Leeds in 1890, and his 

 recent work in the perfecting of the gyroscopic compass is well known. His 

 genial, warm-hearted kindness endeared him not only to his wide circle of 

 friends, but also to his colleagues and students, and there are few members of 

 this Association who do not feel a blank that it is difficult to fill. 



Henry Charles Stewardson, Assistant Treasurer of the British Association 

 for many years, entered the services of the Association in 1873 in a clerical 

 capacity, but, through his ability for finance, soon became Assistant Treasurer, 

 and the Association undoubtedly owes much to his careful economies and to 

 his accurate forecasts of the balance available for grants to research, which 

 guided the Committee of Recommendations each year. He missed no annual 

 meeting, and many members gratefully remember his help and courtesy in the 

 Reception Room. His health was failing at the last meeting, but he continued 

 to discharge his duties until within four days of his death, on May 1 last, 

 in his eightieth year. 



The death of Sir Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., on Monday of last week, deprives 

 the world of a great astronomer, and the nation of a force which it can ill 

 afford to lose. By applying the spectroscope to the sun he furnished the means 

 of studying its surface without waiting for an eclipse; revealed in 1868 the 

 prominences as local disturbances in the chromosphere; and observed in the 

 sun the gas, named by him helium, and afterwards identified on the earth by 

 Sir William Ramsay. More than half a century ago Sir Norman founded that 

 admirable scientific journal ' Nature.' He also founded the British Science 



