4 Anniversary Address by Sir William Huggins. | Nov. 30, 
In May passed away, full of years and full of honours, a Fellow to whose 
personal services the Society is largely indebted—Professor Williamson. 
Elected into the Society in 1855, after serving twice upon the Council, 
he became Foreign Secretary in 1873, which office he held for sixteen years, 
until 1889. Half a century ago Williamson took a prominent part in the 
development of chemical thought, and exercised a powerful influence on 
chemical teaching in this country. He began the study of chemistry at 
Heidelberg, but soon passed to Liebig’s laboratory at Giessen, where he took 
his degree, and while there published papers on the decomposition of Oxides 
and Salts by Chlorine, and on “The Blue Compounds of Cyanogen and Iron.” 
He then went to Paris, where he came under the teaching of Comte. In 1849 
he left Paris to occupy the chair of practical chemistry in University College, 
from which he continued to teach for thirty-eight years. A little later he 
published the classical research, elucidating the process of the formation of 
ether, with which his name will always remain associated. This paper, a 
model of concise reasoning founded upon happily devised experiment, 
produced a profound influence on contemporary thought, and received the 
assent of the whole chemical world. In this paper he gave his acceptance of 
the doctrine of types, which was prominent in his subsequent teaching. 
Williamson was a pioneer of chemical thought in quite another direction by 
the introduction of the conception of dynamics into chemical processes. He 
‘advanced the view, which is fundamental in the modern hypothesis of ionic 
dissociation, that in substances which appear at rest, the atoms of the 
molecules of the compound are in motion, exchanging from one molecule to 
another in an unending course of ionic migrations. 
Williamson occupied the chair of the British Association in 1873, and was 
twice President of the Chemical Society. Honorary degrees were conferred 
upon him by the Universities of Dublin, Edinburgh, and Durham, and he 
received the honorary membership of many scientific societies. Seventeen 
years ago he retired from professional life to Hindhead. 
Alas! this room will know no more a frequent and welcome attendant at 
our meetings who often took part in our discussions. A man whose great 
natural vitality and intellectual activity were so remarkable and unimpaired, 
that his sudden death came as a great shock to his many friends. Professor 
Everett was born and educated at Ipswich, and after graduating with honours 
at Glasgow, he became Professor of Mathematics at King’s College, Nova 
Scotia. Later, in 1867, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at 
Queen’s College, Belfast, a chair which he occupied with distinction for thirty 
years. Since his retirement, about seven years ago, he has resided in London, 
