12 



dern European science. He was also the first person who main- 

 tained, from his own observations on the plains of Hindostan, the 

 superior elevation of the Himalayan mountains above the Andes of 

 America, in opposition to the opinions generally entertained at that 

 period, and which had been sanctioned by the great authority of 

 Humboldt's theory of the range of the curve of perpetual congela- 

 tion. The complete confirmation which his opinion afterward* 

 received, from accurate barometrical and trigonometrical measure- 

 ments, was always referred to, in his later years, with particular sa- 

 tisfaction and triumph. 



Mr. Colebrooke continued the steady pursuit of his oriental and 

 scientific studies until nearly the close of his life, and even when the 

 progress of his infirmities confined him almost entirely to his bed. 

 He was one of the founders of thei\.siatic and Astronomical Societies-, 

 and a short time before his death he gave to the library of the India 

 House his incomparable collection of Sanscrit and Asiatic manu- 

 scripts, which had been collected at an expense of nearly 10,000^., 

 with the noble view of preserving them for ever from the danger of 

 dispersion by the fluctuating accidents of inheritance- 



Mr. Coleljrooke was probably, with one single exception, the 

 greatest Sanscrit scholar of his age ; and when we take into account 

 his great acquirements in mathematics and philosophy and in almost 

 every branch of literature, combined with the most accurate and 

 severe judgement, and also his great public services in situations of 

 the highest trust and responsibility, we shall not hesitate to pro- 

 nounce him one of the most illustrious of that extraordinary suc- 

 cession of great men who have adorned the annals of our Indian 

 empire, the deaths of -so many of whom it has been my misfortune 

 to record in my recent addresses from this chair. 



Dr. John Latham reached the extraordinary- age of ninety -seven 

 years, having enjoyed the full possession of his faculties and almost 

 unbroken health un til within a few days of his death : he was the father 

 of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and it is sixty-seven years since 

 his first paper, on a m€dical subject, was published in our Transactions. 

 He was the author of many papers on antiquarian subjects ; but his 

 favourite study throughout life wa> natural history^ and particularly- 

 ornithology. He published, in 1781, his General Synopsis of Birds^ 

 in six volumes quarto, and afterwards two supplementary volumes. 

 In 1792 he published his Index Ornithologicus, a complete system 

 of ornithology, arranged in classes, orders, genera and species, in 

 two volumes quarto. At the age of 82, he commenced his General 

 History of Birds, a magnificent work in eleven volumes quarto. He was 

 a man of very systematic habits and most amiable character, the tran- 

 quilcourse of whose long life was neither disturbed by scientific orpro- 

 fessional jealousies, nor embittered by the want of those enjoyments 

 which competence and domestic happiness and virtue alone can confer. 



Dr. Tiarks was born at Jever in Oldenburg, and came to England 

 in 1810, when he was appointed Assistant-Librarian to Sir Joseph 

 Banks, through whose influence he was nominated Astronomer to 

 the Commission for settling the North American Boundary, under 



