xX. New Zealand Institute. 
former generation amongst men of science. Sixty-six years ago he 
accompanied the expedition in search of the North-West Passage, 
which was commanded by Sir John Ross, as astronomer ; and, from 
that time until advanced age. brought his labours to a close, he was a 
keen observer and able writer on terrestrial magnetism in all parts of 
the world, as well as other branches of natural science. He visited 
New Zealand in 1842, when attached to the expedition of the 
“Erebus” and the “Terror ” into the Antarctic regions. His name 
deserves to be held in special honour by colonists às the originator of. 
the establishment of colonial observatories ; one of the most im- 
portant results of which has been his discovery of the relation 
between magnetie perturbations and the spotted condition of the 
sun's surface. i 
In Isaac Topuvnrer the world has lost a man remarkable no less 
for the keenness of his intellect, the breadth of his learning, and the 
profoundness of his research, than for his simple-minded humility 
and earnestness of purpose. Not only was he one of the most bril- 
liant mathematicians of his day at Cambridge, but also master of 
many of the languages of modern Europe, including Russian; at the 
London University he had carried off prizes for Greek Testament and 
Hebrew; throughout his life he was an earnest student of Biblical 
literature, and of most of the branches of theology. Born in 
poverty, and early thrown upon his own resources, he has left behind 
him a noble example of what may be achieved by talent aided only by 
indomitable energy. 
Although Sır Cartes Siemens was by birth and education a 
German, yet so much of his long and useful life had been spent in 
England, that he may fairly be claimed by the land of his adoption. — 
At an early age he turned his attention to the investigation of matters 
connected with electricity ; the cables which have bound all parts of 
the world together are to a great extent the result of the labours of 
him and his talented brother Werner ; and he lived to see his efforts 
in one—as in many other departments of science—crowned with suc- 
cess by the opening of an electric tramway in the North of Ireland 
last year. At the time of his death he was engaged on a work which 
may, I hope, be carried on by others, and confer a lasting benefit on 
many millions—the abatement of smoke-fogs in large cities. I regret 
that time will not allow of my doing more than making a passing allu- 
sion to this great and celebrated man. 
During the past year I have visited many of the fine harbours of 
New Zealand and some of its most interesting districts, but all parts of 
the colony have been so frequently described by former travellers, that 
