48 Miscellaneous — Mr. F, W. Harmer, M.A. 



manner. The work was entrusted to Gaclsdon. At first he 

 experienced some difficulty in getting the polish to work properly on 

 the metal, but soon discovered the proper temperature to give 

 satisfactory results, and proved very successful and skilful in 

 treating the specimens. It calls for a careful inspection at a 

 glancing angle to realize that there is anything on a specimen 

 which has been polished, and the harmful rusting has been all but 

 stayed. It is true that some specimens have of necessity been 

 treated more than once, but the cause is no doubt the action that has 

 still gone on in the depths of the cracks within the specimen, and 

 there is evidence that the action is steadily becoming feebler. 



In one of his books Wells suggests that in the course of a century 

 or two Meteoric Irons will be represented in museums by lumps of 

 rust; at the Natural History Museum at least, thanks to the method 

 first applied by Gadsdon, it may be that the Meteoric Irons will 

 retain their original form and constitution much longer than that 

 eminent writer foreboded. 



Q. F. H. s. 



Honorary M.A. conferred by Cambridge University on 

 Mr. F. W. Harmer, F.G.S. 



At a Congregation in the Senate House at Cambridge on Dec. 7 

 the Public Orator, Sir J. E. Sandys, delivered the following speech 

 in presenting Mr. Frederic William Harmer, F.G.S. , for the titular 

 Degree of Master of Arts honoris causa : — 



" Abhinc annos quattuor et octoginta natus, adest vir in geologiae 

 scientia penitus exploranda per vitae partem longe maiorem feliciter 

 occupatus, qui patriae toti devotissimus, Angliae Orientalis regionem 

 nobis propinquam ante omnia praetulisse confitetnr. Yitae in parte 

 prima, aevi tertii geologici reliquiis diligenter investigandis operam 

 dedit ; in secunda, comitatns Eorfolcensis in urbe maxima honore 

 municipali summo praeclare functus est ; in tertia, ad aevi tertii 

 geologiam, ad amorem suum primum, animi ardore prope iuvenili 

 reversus est. Idem (ne plura commemoreni) glacialis aevi et causas 

 primas et eventus ultimos perscrutatus est; ventorum vim in caeli 

 temperie mutanda antiquitus non minus quani recenter multum 

 valuisse luculenter ostendit :. ipsas denique causas sollerter investi- 

 gavit, quae loca ilia nobis propinqua, paludosa ilia quidem et 

 uliginosa, sed pulchritudine sibi propria exornata, aut olim crearunt 

 aut in amplitudinem maiorem auxerunt. 



" Habetis, Academici, exemplar viri, non modo et suo et uxoris suae 

 solo natali, sed etiam patriae toti in unum coniunctae, et rerum. 

 naturae studiis devotissimi. Nostis Tulliana ilia de loco suo natali 

 verba: 'Omnibus municipibus duas esse censeo patrias, unam • 

 naturae, alteram civitatis . . . Hanc meam esse patriam prorsus 

 numquam negabo, dum sit ilia maior, haec in ea contineatur.' 1 



" TJt magister in artibus honoris causa nominetur, adduco vobis 

 virum et suo et filiorum suorum nomine, et studiorum suorum 

 propinquitate, nobis coniunctissimum, Fredericum Willelmum 

 Harmer." 



1 De Legibus, ii, 2, 5. 



