Tol. 50.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 4 1 



THE ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OE THE PRESIDENT, 

 W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., E.L.S. 



<xENTLEMEN, 



Our losses through death have again been very considerable, and 

 although few of those whom we deplore were at any time actively 

 engaged in the work of the Society, yet the number of Fellows, 

 deceased since the last Anniversary, who had achieved distinction 

 in other branches of science must be regarded as noteworthy. 



John Tyndall, F.R.S., Honorary Professor of Natural Philosophy 

 at the Royal Institution, was born near Carlow on the 21st August, 

 1820, being descended from an old English family of that name, a 

 branch of which had migrated to Ireland in the days of the Stuarts. 

 At 19 years of age he joined the Ordnance Survey under Col. Owen 

 "Wynne, and was afterwards employed as a surveyor during the 

 press of railway construction in England. In 1847, when the 

 railway mania had somewhat abated, he accepted an educational 

 post at Queenswood College in Hampshire. The following year, in 

 company with Dr. Erankland, Mr. Tyndall went to the University 

 of Marburg, where he enjoyed the advantage of the instruction and 

 co-operation of such men as Bunsen and Knoblauch. About 1853 

 he joined the staff at the Royal Institution, having been elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society a year previously. His career at the 

 Royal Institution is too well known to need repetition here. It is 

 enough to indicate that, on the proposal of Faraday, Tyndall was 

 appointed Professor of Physics, and he held the post until 1887, 

 having been throughout that long interval one of the most popular 

 and effective of lecturers. 



On his retirement from this chair a complimentary dinner was 

 given to Prof. Tyndall, which was attended by a large number of 

 distinguished men. Since that date he withdrew to a very great 

 extent from public scientific work, having retired to his chosen 

 abode on Hind Head, where, but for the encroachments of his 

 neighbours, he was content to pass a quiet time. Here it was, that 

 owing to the results of an unfortunate mistake, he died on the 4th 

 December, 1893, in the 74th'year of his age. On the 15th of the 

 same month a special general meeting of the Members of the Royal 

 Institution was held for the purpose of passing a vote of sympathy 



