48 Obituary, 



scientific societies of Edinburgh. He was proposed as a Fellow of the 

 Eoyal Society of Edinburgh by Sir T. Makdougall Brisbane, and 

 was elected in 1858. He filled the presidential chair both of the 

 Eoyal Physical Society and the Eoyal Scottish Society of Arts, and 

 was also a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. To the pro- 

 ceedings of these various scientific bodies he was a not unfrequent 

 contributor. His published papers are about thirty in number, and 

 comprise articles on geology, mineralogy, and zoology. In 1864 he 

 read to the Scottish Society of Arts an account of a new method 

 of detecting the presence and position of icebergs at sea, which was 

 considered of so much importance that the Hepburn Prize was 

 awarded to it. In 1862 he made a trip to Iceland, and published 

 a short description of his journey, one of the most interesting 

 results of which was the determination of the fact that the tempera- 

 ture half way down the tube of the Great Geyser was 270*^ Fahr., 

 whilst at the veiy bottom it was not more than 240° Fahr. He was 

 elected a member of the Town Council, for Newington Ward, in 

 1861, which office he resigned on account of failing health, in 

 November last. During that period he took an active part in the 

 introduction of telegraphic communication between the various 

 police stations in the city. His brother Councillors testified their 

 opinion of his scientific abilities by appointing him last year one of 

 the Curators for the election of professors in our University. In the 

 spring of the present year, whilst engaged in making experiments to 

 test the applicability of the employment of the electric light in the 

 capture of fish, for which he obtained a patent, he contracted a 

 severe cold, which was shortly followed by an attack of jaundice. 

 He lingered on during the summer and autumn, gradually becoming 

 weaker, when an attack of bronchitis supervened, which in his then 

 debilitated condition rapidly proved fatal. He died on the morning 

 of the 7th of December at his house, Hawkhill, near Edinburgh. 

 On the evening of that day the Eoyal Physical Society held the 

 first meeting of its ninety-sixth session. After the minutes were, 

 read and approved, the president expressed his regret at having to 

 announce the death of Mr. Alexander Bryson, which had occurred 

 that morning, and moved that the Society should immediately adjourn, 

 as a mark of respect to his memory. Mr. Bryson had long been 

 connected with and was one of the most active supporters of the 

 Society. He had filled the office of president, and at the time of his 

 death was a member of Council. The secretary was also instructed 

 to communicate with the members of deceased's family, and to express 

 the deep sorrow of the Society for his loss. The motion was agreed 

 to, and the Society adjourned accordingly. 



Senor Casiana di Peado, of Madrid, For. Mem. G. S., died at 

 the close of 1866. He was Inspector-General of the Mines of Spain, 

 and was zealously devoted to the elucidation of its gelogy. A full 

 account of his principal work, ^' Descripcion fisica y geologica de la 

 Provincia de Madrid" (1864), was given by Mr. Hamilton in his 

 Presidential Address to the Geological Society of London in 1866. 



