ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IxXl 



observations ; and his papers contained numerous references to mine- 

 ralogical and geological phsenomena. Being at home on leave, he 

 was appointed to go on a special mission to Circassia, but was 

 attacked on his way through the Crimea with cholera, and, being 

 obliged to return to Constantinople, died there on the 10th of October, 

 1854. His designation as Colonel probably represented the rank 

 Mr. Lloyd once held in the army of Bolivia : he was a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society, a Fellow of the Geographical, and a Member of the 

 Institute of Civil Engineers. 



Of our foreign members we have lost, in M. Constant Prevost, 

 one who has been long classed amongst the most eminent scientific 

 men. He was born in Paris, 6th June, 1787, his father, M. Louis 

 Prevost, being at the time Receiver of the Rentes of Paris, and his 

 mother, the daughter of a distinguished family of civilians. M. Louis 

 Prevost died on the 30th August, 1 793, leaving two children, a son 

 and a daughter, to the care of his widow, who, being a woman of the 

 most elevated character and noble mind, devoted herself to the edu- 

 cation of her children. In 1804 his daughter died, and Madame 

 Prevost concentrated all her solicitude and her efforts on the edu- 

 cation of her son, who, thanks to her care, received instruction of 

 the most sound and varied character. In July, 1816, Madame Pre- 

 vost contracted a second marriage with M. Beviere, whose father was 

 at once Senator and Dean of the Faculty of Mayors and Notaries of 

 Paris. M. Beviere manifested towards his son-in-law a true paternal 

 affection ; and, when it is considered how powerful the claims of his 

 family were both on the father's and mother's side, it will be admitted 

 that, like his friend, the celebrated Blainville, M. Prevost aban- 

 doned the distinctions and the wealth which he might have easily com- 

 manded in civil life, for the less certain, but still more noble rewards of 

 science. He commenced his scientific studies in the Central Schools, 

 which have replaced the ancient Colleges of France, and for several 

 years was amongst the most distinguished students, carrying off the 

 first prizes. He attended the lectures of Cuvier, Brongniart, and 

 Dumeril, and, charmed by their eloquence, felt the most ardent taste 

 for the natural sciences gradually developing itself within him. 



In 1811 he took his degree in Letters and Sciences at Paris, and 

 for a time devoted himself to the study of medicine, having been 

 admitted into the class-room of Cuvier, where he studied, in conjunc- 

 tion with his friend Blainville, human and comparative anatomy 

 and general physiology. In 1812 he attended the lectures of 

 Cuvier at the College of France, as well as those of Desfontaines, 

 Jussieu, Gay-Lussac, Biot, and Thenard. The impulse of his taste 

 at first led him to the study of Natural History, and he was engaged 

 with Blainville in a work on fishes, but he was soon more powerfully 

 drawn towards the exclusive study of Geology, for which his varied 

 attainments had so eminently prepared him. In fact Brongniart had 

 early distinguished him amongst his pupils, and selected him in 

 1808 to accompany him on a journey to the western provinces of 

 France, and again in 1812 on a visit to Germany. Having after- 



