24 W. M. HAMLET. 



of Crookes, which in turn led the way for Rontgen and 

 Lenard, preparing the way for Becquerel and Madame Curie 

 with all the brilliant discoveries in radiant matter. Radio- 

 activity and the upheaval of our notions of the atomic 

 theory has been fruitful in a big harvest of results, but 

 one of the most prominent workers and discoverers has 

 been laid to rest during the year, I mean M. Henri Bec- 

 querel, whose researches have had no small share in this 

 essentially modern work, since it was he who in 1896 first 

 found the radiations from uranium. New ideas of matter 

 in solution on the one hand and the radio-activity of solids 

 on the other throw a flood of light on the very fundamental 

 principles of the constitution of matter. In the light of the 

 ionic theory the extremely simple act of dropping a few 

 grains of common sugar into a teacupf ul of water is pregnant 

 with deep philosophy, for the process of solution takes place 

 and affords an insight into molecular action: the molecules 

 endowed with movement exert a pressure, the magnitude 

 of which depending on the degree of concentration, the 

 pressure, volume, velocity of the molecules ; the conduc- 

 tivity and the molecular weight all being deducible from 

 the simple act of solution, while the work performed is the 

 work of the ions in rhythmic order and precision. It is the 



parallel of the 



" Flower in the crannied wall," 



or the primrose of Peter Bell which to the unthinking is 

 but a primrose still. Thus the simplest phenomenon pro- 

 vides us with matter for deep reflection, and is it not Goethe 

 who tells us that the commonest natural object is a window 

 through which we may look out into the infinite ? What- 

 ever view we have from this window, however dim or 

 imperfect when seen "through the glass darkly," let it be 

 our firm determination to see as clearly as we may, and act 

 accordingly. Not in cultured idleness, nor in vain reflection, 

 but with faculties strung up to worthy toil and enterprise, 



