for the year 1875. xxix 



honour was done alike to Mr. Ellery, and to the Society, 

 by retaining him in office during his visit to Europe. I 

 think I may venture to add, that it is the intention of the 

 members and officers to do their best during the President's 

 absence, hoping to welcome him back in due time to his 

 accustomed sphere of usefulness among us. 



Unfortunately, the temporary loss of our President's 

 services is not the only one to be recorded ; we have suffered 

 an incomparably greater loss in the demise of Professor 

 William Parkinson Wilson, an event which occurred at his 

 residence, Wolfdene, Mornington, on the 11th of December 

 last, two days after that of the Transit of Venus. Professor 

 Wilson was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society, 

 he filled the office of Vice-President during many years, and 

 although his name is not prominent in our Transactions, 

 it can most truly be said, that his services to us were 

 throughout of the highest order. His eminent scientific 

 and scholastic attainments are too widely recognised to 

 need comment, but to these were added certain marked 

 attributes, perhaps not so widely known, but which largely 

 increased the value of his help. He possessed that kind of 

 knowledge, not always enjoyed by the learned, but which 

 is essential to the successful conduct of the affairs of every- 

 day life, his perceptive powers were rapid, his judgment 

 penetrating and almost unerring, he possessed in quite a 

 characteristic degree the power of stripping complicated 

 questions of all that was foreign to them, and of pre- 

 senting them in the clearest and simplest form. At 

 the Society's Council meetings, his presence gave to 

 the business, on all occasions, a tone and precision which 

 I fear, wanting his good counsels, we shall find it difficult 

 to maintain. At our general meetings he exercised the 

 power of imparting the fullest vitality to the discussions. 

 I am speaking in terms of praise, but there are many here 



