Annual Report of the Council. xlv 



theory more accessible to German students. Boltzmann had 

 indeed a large share in bringing about that closer approximation 

 between English and German schools of physics which has been 

 so marked in the last thirty years. He also wrote an elaborate 

 treatise on the mathematical theory of gases, in which he sets 

 forth his mature views on the subject. This theory is largely 

 dependent on theoretical dynamics, and he was accordingly led 

 to write a separate treatise on the latter subject. He was always 

 fond of describing himself as "atomistic," and in this book he 

 takes up a position of avowed antagonism to the wider, and 

 consequently vaguer, conception of Mechanics which is formu- 

 lated in the well-known treatise of Hertz. 



An appreciative notice by the hand of a personal friend 

 {Prof. G. H. Bryan) appeared in Nature, October 4th, 1906. 

 We may also refer to the memoir by des Coudres, in the 

 Ber. k. Sachs. Gesell. d. Wissensch. zu Leipzig, vol. 58, p. 617, 

 1906. H. L. 



Sir Michael Foster. — When the history of scientific 

 thought and learning in this country is written, it will be found 

 that the decade 1 870-1 880 was marked by changes in method 

 and conception of Biology which, it is not an exaggeration to 

 say, were revolutionary in character. The leadership of this 

 revolution is by common consent assigned to Huxley, but the 

 greatest and most successful of his generals was undoubtedly 

 Michael Foster. 



His campaign in Cambridge which led to the establishment 

 and development of the great schools of Physiology, Pathology, 

 Zoology, and Botany, of which the University is so justly proud, 

 was not the only part of his life's work that exhibited his extra- 

 ordinary powers of organisation, diplomacy, and appreciation of 

 the true paths of scientific progress. But it was in Cambridge, 

 rather than in any other sphere of his activities that his influence 

 as a leader of a new movement was particularly powerful. 



He was born at Huntingdon in 1836, and was the eldest 

 son of a surgeon practising in that city. The last three 



