1871.] 221 [Field. 
nearly succeeded in compromising its title, by almost electing the ple- 
beian philosopher to the dignity of President, in preference to the Royal 
patron of science and literature, the Duke of Sussex. So keen was the 
contest that the subject of our memoir lost it only by 8 votes in a meet- 
ting of 240 members. He was President of the Astronomical Society 
three times. In 1845, he presided at the British Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science at Cambridge. Many learned European societies, 
beside those of his own country, rejoiced to inscribe his name on their 
rolls; but to none of them will our American Philosophical Society yield 
in its admiration, of this great citizen of the tepublic of Literature and 
Science, as evinced by the bestowal upon him of their diploma of member- 
ship. In 1842, he was elected Lord Rector of Marischal College, Aber- 
deen. : 
The last of his public official positions, previously to his retirement into 
the quietude of a country life at Collingwood, in Kent, was that of Master 
of the Mint, to which he was appointed December 16, 1850, and which he 
retained until Professor Graham’s appointment, Apri 283. 18pdec im 
this office Sir John was a worthy successor of the great Sir Isaac Newton, 
who filled that office in the reign of William III. 
In subsequent times, the Mastership acquired a political character and 
was conferred generally on members of the Cabinet, which continued 
until what is known familiarly amongst Mint employés, the Revolution 
of ’51, by which the old system of. charters, indentures and contracts for 
the meltings and coinages, being considered antiquated, it was desired 
by the higher powers to abolish. Naturally, this move caused much 
alarm and dissatisfaction ; the distastefulness of which was, however, 
greatly modified by the gentle and considerate manner in which Sir John 
exercised the authority entrusted to him. 
The labor and anxiety inseparable from a reconstruction of so import- 
ant an establishment, much impaired the health of the subject of this 
memoir. Still his mental vigor did not succumb to bodily infirmity, as 
daily he was at his post about 11 o’clock, rarely leaving till 5 or 6 p. m., 
when he might be seen walking out with his portfolio under his arm, filled 
with papers to consider and revise, as an evening amusement. 
Among the many alterations made by Sir John, he framed and calcu- 
lated tables for standarding the various qualities of gold and silver, which 
superseded those said to have been Sir Isaac Newton’s. 
He sanctioned the abandonment of ‘ Trial Plates’’ (designated by Sir 
John “ Fiducial Pieces ”’) which had been prepared from time to time 
and used for centuries, and presumed to be mathematically of the due 
proportions of the pure noble metal, but not really so. In lieu of this 
practice Sir John directed the Queen’s Assay Master to use his best en- 
deavors to obviate the evil, so that no officer of a foreign mint should be 
able to question the conventional purity of our British coin as being other 
than for gold 916.6, and for silver 925. 
In giving effect to the Master's wishes, the Queen’s Assay “Master 
worked out the important correction by preparing and introducing chem- 
