Minutes of Proceedings. 265 



nized the importance of tlie object by a substantial vote towards it. 

 From Dublin, in the past, I may remind you, important contribu- 

 tions to our knowledge of the subject have come through the labours 

 of the late Provost Humphrey Lloyd, a former President of the 

 Academy, who established the Observatory in the Pellows' Garden 

 of Trinity College, in which work was carried on until its continuance 

 appears to have been considered scarcely necessary. The Dublin 

 Station is obviously far inferior in importance to that at Yalentia. 

 In vol. I, p. 221, of the third series of our Proceedings will be found 

 a short account of the present temporary observatory, and of the instru- 

 ments at present in it, by Professor Pitz'Grerald of Trinity College. 



Although notice has already been taken by the Academy of the 

 recent death of one of its former presidents, the late Dr. Ilaughton, 

 I cannot refrain from some allusion to the great loss which we have 

 sustained by his death. Having begun life with a most distinguished 

 university career, followed by the unusual, if not unprecedented, feat 

 of obtaining a Fellowship in Trinity College only a few months after 

 his Bachelor's degree ; he continued to work hard all his life at an 

 extended and extending range of subjects. He was a frequent contri- 

 butor to the publications of the Academy and to other Journals. He 

 formed, perhaps, the only remaining link with the past, when 

 M'Cullagh, Robinson, Lloyd, and others contributed so much to the 

 work and life of what has been looked on as a brilliant era of the 

 Academy. His Papers in all were very numerous (the number of entries 

 in the Eoyal Society Catalogue of scientific papers, from 1846 to 1882, 

 is 173), and he worked on steadily almost to the end. As Professor of 

 Geology in Trinity College he had his thoughts particularly directed 

 to that subject, and his Geological Papers are very numerous. He also 

 wrote on the theory of the tides, the crust of the Earth, the wave theory 

 of light, and animal mechanics. In 1862 he took out the degree of 

 M.D. in Trinity College, and was appointed Registrar of the Medical 

 School. He devoted his usual energy to the reorganization of the 

 School, and during the visitation of cholera about that time was 

 active in promoting reforms in the Dublin hospitals. He wrote 

 also for a time on medical subjects in various publications. He 

 brought out, as you know, a Manual of Geology, also some 

 other educational works in conjunction with the late Professor 

 Galbraith. He received the honorary degrees of D.C.L. from Oxford, 



