
1904.| Anniversary Address by Sir Wilham Huggins. 7 
of Bachelor of Science of the University of France at the early age of sixteen. 
He then entered the Royal School of Mines, where in two years he achieved 
the remarkable distinction of securing the Associateship in the Mining, 
Metallurgical, and Geological divisions, as well as the Duke of Cornwall’s 
Scholarship and the Forbes Medal. ‘In 1872 he was appointed H.M. Inspector 
of Mines. He succeeded, in 1890, Sir Warrington Smyth as Professor of 
Mining at the Royal College of Science, and the Royal School of Mines. He 
became a Fellow of our Society in 1892. On the King’s birthday, last year, 
he received the honour of Knighthood. During his twenty-nine years’ 
Government Inspectorship, Sir Clement did much to ameliorate the lot of the 
miner, and to establish metal mining on a scientific basis. 
Quite recently the Society has suffered a further loss in the unexpected 
death of Dr. McClean, who, by his wisely considered benefactions, as well as 
_ by his personal work, has contributed not a little to the increase of natural 
knowledge. Having retired thirty-four years ago from professional work as 
an engineer, he built an astronomical observatory at his house at Tunbridge 
Wells, and devoted himself to photo-spectroscopic work on the sun and stars. 
His photographic spectra of all stars above the 34 magnitude appeared in our 
Transactions, in which he showed the presence of oxygen in connection with 
helium in certain stars. His benefactions to Science are of two kinds. In 
1890 he founded the Isaac Newton Studentships at Cambridge for the 
promotion of the study of Astronomy and Astronomical Physics; while, on the 
practical side, ten years later, he made a most generous gift of valuable 
instruments to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. He has 
crossed the great bar, to the deep sorrow of his many friends, and to the 
great regret of all men of science. 
During the last few years a very large amount, increasing each year, 
of work outside the reading, discussion, and printing of papers, of a more or 
less public character, has been thrown upon the Royal Society—so large indeed 
as at present to tax the Society’s powers to the utmost. A not inconsiderable 
part of this work has come from the initiation by the Society itself of new 
undertakings, but mainly it has consisted of assistance freely given, at their 
request, to different Departments of the Government on questions which 
require expert scientific knowledge, and which involves no small amount of 
labour on the part of the Officers and Staff, and much free sacrifice of time 
and energy from Fellows, in most cases living at a distance. 
There is little doubt that this largely-increased amount of public work has 
arisen, in part naturally from the greater scientific activity of the present day, 
