Vol. 59.] ANNIVERSARZ ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lvti 



was, moreover, the author of two works upon the subject of school- 

 management, which have run through several editions. In 1893 

 he was appointed Vice-Principal of the Saltley College, a post which 

 he held until the time of his death. 



In scientific work, especially in geology, he took an active 

 interest. He was prizeman in the geological classes at the Mason 

 College two years in succession, and became a Fellow of the 

 Geological Society of London in 1887. He entered into research- 

 work in geology with great keenness, and proved himself a good 

 stratigraphist. He mapped in person part of the Permian of 

 South Staffordshire, and was the first to discover the existence 

 of Lower Bunter Beds on the east side of the South Staffordshire 

 Coalfield. He paid also especial attention to the distribution 

 and contents of the river-gravels of the Kea, near Saltley, obtaining 

 implements characteristic of early man, and his work in this 

 direction has been referred to by Sir John Evans and others in 

 complimentary terms. He died on November 7th, 1902. 



Don Jose Macpherson, who died at Madrid on the 11th of 

 October last, was born at Cadiz in the year 1839. He was 

 the son of a wealthy Scotsman and a Spanish lady, and united 

 in his life and character British patience and doggedness with 

 Andalusian brilliance and geniality. His education was begun at 

 Gibraltar, and even at an early age he showed himself superior to 

 the attractions of such a life of ease and social enjoyment as his 

 father's means might have allowed him to lead. 



His first studies were directed to mathematics, physics, and 

 chemistry, especially the last-named. These he studied in Paris, 

 following the lectures of the most eminent professors in that 

 metropolis, and working diligently in their laboratories. He next 

 conceived a great enthusiasm for mineralogy, and studied for some 

 time under the celebrated Pisani, becoming especially expert in the 

 determination of mineral species. Returning to Cadiz and Seville, 

 he published in 1870 his first work, ' On a Method of Determining 

 Minerals.' 



He soon, however, went back to Paris, and, after making various 

 excursions with Daubree, Stanislas Meunier, and others, he con- 

 centrated all his attention upon geology. He travelled through 

 Switzerland, climbing its mountains and studying its glaciers, and 

 thence returned to Spain,"where he at once commenced the examina- 

 tion of its geology. The first fruits of this work were presented 



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