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 

 11 Erebus" and the "Terror " into the Antarctic regions. His name 

 deserves to be held in special honour by colonists as 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 magnetic perturbations and the spotted condition of the 

 sun's surface. 



In Isaac Todhunter 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 Sir Charles 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 



