Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixii. (191 7) 11 



Society 1842, followed Fairbairn as President during i860 and 

 1 861. He was again elected during .1868-9, 1872-3, and 1878-9. 

 He was born at Salfordj, 24th December, 1818; educated by- 

 private tuition. At the age of sixteen he became the pupil of 

 Dalton in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. Between 1837 

 and 1854 he attended closely to the business of his father's 

 'brewery, his leisure being spent in scientific research. 



In 1843 he was engaged in the study of the effect of heat on 

 gases, which proved that the relation between work and heat 

 is definite and invariable, which he termed " The Mechanical 

 Equivalent of Heat." From 1843 it° z ^49 he continued to- work 

 to determine the equivalent with precision, and finally ascer- 

 tained that one unit of heajt[, i.0., the heat required to raise |one 

 pound of water through i° Fahr>, was capable, when converted 

 into work, of raising 772 lbs. through a distance off one foot. 

 It has been named " Joule's Equivalent," and is unquestionably 

 the most important constant quantity in Molecular Physics, and 

 has furnished the basis of calculation fior all mechanical energy. 



Djr- Edward Schunck, F.R.S., was born in Manchester 1820; 

 elected 1842; President, 1878-9. Acted as Secretary from 1855 

 till i860. He did much work in connection with colours, and 

 gave valuable contributions as regards (the green colouring 

 matter of plants. He demonstrated that the coial tar base, 

 Anthracene, was chemically closely allied to the Alizarine of 

 the Madder root, and pointed out ithat it should be possible 

 to convert the one into the other. Twenty years later, Graebe 

 and Liebermann in Germany, and W. H, ; Perkin in England, 

 achieved the result by different processes, the patent by the 

 former being taken out twenty-four hours before the latter in 

 England. He died at Kersal on 13th January, 1903, aged 83. 



Edward William Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., elected 1842, became 

 President 1862-3, again during 1876-7, and, lastly, 1880, till his 

 death in the following year. He was born at Morton, in 

 Nottinghamshire, in 181 2, and died 19th December, 1881, aged 

 69. He did much valuable geological work, and was asso- 

 ciated with Dr. James Young, F.R.S., in 'the development of the 

 Paraffin Oil Industry in ,'Scotland. He contributed 146 papers (to 

 the Society. He conceived the idea {of enlarging the Society's 

 House in George Street, but died before it was carried out. 

 Nothing was done until the year 1883, and during this and the 

 following two years about ^2,,ooo was raised by subscription, 

 handsome donations having been given by Dr. Henry Wilde, 

 Sir Henry E. Roscoe, Dr. James Yioung, F.R.S. (of Glasgow), 

 Dr. Ludwig Mond, F.R.&., Mr. H. D. Pochin, Dr. William 

 Charles Henry, Dr. Angus Smith, Mr. Charles J. Hey wood, 



