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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. No. 678 



harmonic analysis, which embraces many- 

 topics having for their common aim the 

 solution of the potential equation in forms 

 suitable for application to the problems of 

 physics. The exhaustive examination of 

 the general types of harmonic functions 

 contained in his paper in the Philosophical 

 Transactions, 1896, has been found to be 

 of high utility for this application. He 

 was led by these researches, and particu- 

 larly by the difficulty of describing in gen- 

 eral terms the characteristics of a function 

 capable of being represented by Fourier's 

 series, to take part in the revision of the 

 logical basis of differential and integral 

 calculus which is now in progress; his 

 presidential address to the London Mathe- 

 matical Society in 1902 on the questions 

 here arising aroused general interest among 

 mathematicians, and he has recently (1907) 

 published an extensive volume dealing with 

 the whole matter and its applications to the 

 theory of Fourier's series, which is of great 

 importance for the history and develop- 

 ment of mathematics. 



His Majesty has also approved the award 

 of a Royal medal to Dr. Ramsay H. Tra- 

 quair, F.R.S. Dr. Traquair is honored on 

 the ground of his long-continued researches 

 on the fossil fishes of Paleozoic strata, 

 which have culminated, within the past ten 

 years, in his discovery of new groups of 

 Silurian and Devonian fishes, and in his 

 complete exposition of the structure of 

 Drepanaspis, Phlyctenaspis and other re- 

 markable forms. 



For <nearly forty years Dr. Traquair has 

 been busy with the description of fossil 

 fishes, mostly from the Paleozoic rocks of 

 Scotland, and he is deservedly held to be 

 one of the most eminent paleontologists of 

 the day. He has been highly successful in 

 the interpretation of the often very obscure 

 and fragmentary remains which he has had 

 to elucidate, and his restorations of fishes 

 have won such credit as to appear in all 



modern text-books of paleontology. It may 

 be said that his work, notwithstanding the 

 great difficulties of the subject, has well 

 stood the test of time. 



Dr. Traquair has done much to advance 

 our knowledge of the osteology of fishes 

 generally. His earliest memoirs on the 

 asymmetrical skull of flat-fishes and on the 

 skull of Polypterus remain models of ex- 

 actness. His acquaintance with osteology 

 enabled him to show how former superficial 

 examination of the Paleozoic fishes had led 

 to wrong interpretations. He demonstrated 

 that Chirolepis was not an Aeanthodian, as 

 previously supposed, but a true Paleoniscid. 

 In 1877 he satisfactorily defined the Pale- 

 oniscidffi and their genera for the first time, 

 and conclusively proved them to be more 

 nearly related to the sturgeons than to any 

 of the other modern ganoids with which 

 they had been associated. He thus made 

 an entirely new departure in the interpre- 

 tation of extinct fishes, replacing an artifi- 

 cial classification by one based on phylo- 

 genetic relationship. His later memoir on 

 the Platysomidas was equally fundamental 

 and of the same nature. 



All subsequent discoveries, many made 

 by Traquair himself, have confirmed these 

 conclusions, which are now universally ac- 

 cepted. 



In 1878 Dr. Traquair demonstrated the 

 dipneustan nature of the Devonian Dip- 

 terus, and somewhat later he began the 

 detailed study of the Devonian fishes. His 

 latest researches on the Upper Silurian 

 fishes of Scotland are equally important, 

 and provide a mass of new knowledge for 

 which we are indebted to his exceptional 

 skill and judgment in unraveling the mys- 

 teries of early vertebrate life. 



The Davy medal is awarded to Professor 

 Edward Williams Morley. Professor Ed- 

 ward W. Morley is well known both to 

 chemists and to physicists for his work in 

 the application of optical interferences and 



