892 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 521. 



the late Mr. Frank McClean, F.R.S., offered 

 a large sum of money to the University of 

 Cambridge for the foundation of three student- 

 ships, to be named after Sir Isaac Newton, 

 for the promotion of the study of astronomy 

 amongst our younger graduates. By the regu- 

 lations adopted on the acceptance of this large 

 benefaction by the university, the candidates 

 must be under 25 years of age, and the student 

 chosen at each annual election holds his 

 studentship for three years. The income of 

 the fund nov7 amounts to close on £750, so 

 that the stipend payable to each student suffi- 

 ces for his support. Since the object of the 

 endowment was the promotion of scientific 

 research, the students are prohibited from 

 taking any other paid employment; and a 

 succession of young men have thus been en- 

 abled to devote three of the best years of their 

 lives to the untrammelled pursuit of science. 



The recent death of Mr. McClean has nat- 

 urally led us at Cambridge to review the effects 

 which have resulted from his generous gift. 

 The records of the electors to the Isaac New- 

 ton studentships, of whom I am the secretary, 

 have fully confirmed the prevision of the 

 founder as to the value of such an endow- 

 ment of research; for we find on the list of 

 past students the names of Professor Sampson, 

 the editor of Adams's papers and director of 

 Durham Observatory, of Mr. Dyson and Mr. 

 Cowell, chief assistants at Greenwich Observ- 

 atory, and of Mr. Hough, the chief assistant 

 of the observatory at Cape Town. There are 

 besides other past students who have already 

 made their mark in those branches of physics 

 and astronomy which fall within the scope of 

 the endowment. 



Mr. McClean was himself fully competent 

 to estimate the effect of his own foundation, 

 for he had attained to the high distinction of 

 the award of the gold medal of the Royal 

 Astronomical Society, which is open to the 

 astronomers of all nations. 



The large benefaction of which I have 

 spoken is, however, by no means all that Mr. 

 McClean has done for Cambridge- and for 

 other places. Only last year an anonymous 

 donor, whom we now know to have been Mr. 



McClean, gave a considerable sum for the 

 aiigmentation, during a period of five years 

 of the stipends of two of the most distin- 

 guished of our mathematical lecturers. The 

 foundation of the Stokes and Cayley lecture- 

 ships, by means of this gift, practically makes 

 a substantial, although temporary, augmenta- 

 tion of the mathematical professoriate of the 

 University. 1 know from the men who have 

 been nominated to these posts how great is the 

 boon conferred on them, since they now have 

 that leisure for which they had previously 

 longed to devote themselves to science. We 

 hope that the example thus afforded may in- 

 duce other donors to make this endowment a 

 permanent one. 



Mr. McClean had, as the guest of Sir David 

 Gill at the Cape of Good Hope, devoted him- 

 self to making a spectroscopic catalogue of 

 southern stars, and he marked his visit to the 

 Cape by presenting a fine telescope to that 

 observatory. 



Finally, since his death we learn that he 

 has left a large bequest to the University of 

 Cambridge for the adequate equipment of our 

 observatory with spectroscopic appliances, and 

 further that he has bequeathed to the Fitz- 

 william Museum his valuable illuminated 

 manuscripts and printed books, the collection 

 of which formed the amusement of his leisure 

 hours. 



"We residents at the university think we 

 owe it to the memory of our benefactor to 

 acknowledge the great value which we attach 

 to all that this loyal son of Cambridge has 

 . done for us, and, at the same ■ time, to record 

 our sense of the great loss suffered by science 

 and the university by his death. 



Such magnificent and wise generosity has 

 unfortunately been but too rare in this coun- 

 try. Is it too much to hope that this example 

 may be followed by others whose wealth en- 

 ables them to do inestimable service to science 

 and letters by enlightened benefactions ? 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



The Royal Society held its annual meeting 

 on November 30. 



The report of the council as summarized in 

 the London Times stated that one of the chief 



