1 A nnual Report of the Council. 



butions to chemical theory, but also for his daring attempts to 

 show the oneness of things, to demonstrate that stellar and 

 molecular mechanics are essentially the same. Perhaps the 

 most noteworthy of these was a lecture delivered at the Royal 

 Institution in 1889. Assuming the attractions between the 

 atoms of a molecule to be gravitational, he showed that Newton's 

 Third Law is adequate to explain all the facts of chemical sub- 

 stitution. His last speculation was the inclusion of the ether in 

 his periodic system as an extremely light gas. 



Mendeleeff was elected an honorary member of this Society 

 in 1889. E. C E. 



Henri Moissan was born in Paris on September 28th, 1852, 

 and at an early age developed an interest in chemistry. In 1872 

 he entered the laboratory of Fremy at the Museum d' His to ire 

 naiurelle, attending also the courses of Henri Sainte-Claire- 

 Deville, Debray and others. 



From 1873 to 1879 Moissan held the post of assistant in the 

 Laboratory of MM. Decaisne and Deherain at the Museum 

 dHistoire naturelle, and in 1874 published, in conjunction with 

 M. Deherain, his first contribution to science, a study of the 

 absorption of oxygen and emission of carbonic acid by plants 

 kept in a darkened room. In 1S77 a series of papers on the 

 oxides of the metals of the iron group was commenced, the whole 

 work being collected and presented in 1880 as a thesis for the 

 degree of Docteur cs sciences of the Faculty of Sciences of the 

 Paris University. This research carried out with much experi- 

 mental skill and precision, considerably extended our knowledge 

 of the reduction products of the oxides of iron, manganese, 

 nickel, and chromium. 



A long connection with the Ecole superieure de Pharmacie 

 commenced in 1879, by his appointment as demonstrator in 

 chemistry; the chair of toxicology being given him in 1887, 

 after his memorable isolation of fluorine, and finally the 

 professorship of chimie miner ale in 1899, when his first opportunity 

 occurred for holding a course of lectures on chemistry. 



