XVI 



ology, more especially as regards the application of exact methods of 

 research to the investigation of physiological problems. 



Dr. Sharpey was appointed one of the examiners in anatomy 

 to the University of London, when that body obtained its charter 

 to grant degrees in 1840, and continued to perform the duties of 

 the office during the long period of twenty-three years. He was, at 

 a later period, a Member of the Senate of the University. He was 

 also during fifteen years one of the members appointed by the Crown 

 on the General Council of Medical Education and Registration. He 

 acted for some time as one of the Treasurers of the Council, and took 

 a deep interest in the various subjects- connected with medical educa- 

 tion and polity, which claimed its attention. Dr. Sharpey was also a 

 member of the Science Commission, which met under the presidency 

 of the Duke of Devonshire, from 1870 to 1875, and, taking an active 

 part in its proceedings, he aided greatly by his sagacity and knowledge 

 the deliberations of that body. He was also one of the Trustees of 

 the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and a 

 member of many scientific societies of this and other countries. He 

 received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1859. 



Dr. Sharpey's connexion with the Hoyal Society began by his 

 election as Fellow, on the 9th of May, 1839. He became a Member 

 of the Council in 1844-5, and was appointed one of the Secretaries in 

 place of Mr. Bell in 1853. This office he held for nineteen years, 

 or till 1872, when the failing condition of his eyesight, obliged him to 

 resign. He was again chosen a Member of Council for the next two 

 years. 



All those who attended the Society, or took part in its proceedings, 

 are well aware of the strong and steady interest which Dr. Sharpey 

 took in all its affairs, and of the great amount of anxious ( care and 

 judicious labour which he devoted to the promotion of its welfare. In 

 the course of so long a membership and official connexion with the 

 Society, there were necessarily many incidental pieces of business in 

 which he was particularly engaged. It is sufficient to mention as 

 among the more important of those which occupied his attention, 

 the following, viz. : — 1. The correct and speedy publication of the 

 Society's Proceedings and Transactions which fell under his superinten- 

 dence. 2. The introduction, in 1848, of the mode of electing Fellows, 

 by which the Council is made primarily responsible for the selection 

 of the persons to be elected by the Society. 3. The removal of the 

 Society with its library and other property from Somerset House to 

 Burlington House, in 1857, and the subsequent transference to the 

 new apartments in that locality. 4. The compilation and publication 

 of the Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, in which his ex- 

 tensive and accurate knowledge of scientific literature enabled him 



