116 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



" It is sad to think, that just at the moment of a commemoration 

 which would otherwise have been celebrated with unalloyed pleasure, 

 Science has to mourn the loss of one of her most distinguished 

 votaries. The single-minded and devoted labours of Pasteur, and 

 their beneficial results to man and the domestic animals, are recog- 

 nised throughout the whole world with the highest gratitude and 

 admiration. The Royal Society assures the members of the Institut 

 of its hearty sympathy in the sad loss that they and humanity at 

 large have sustained. 



" That the Institut may long continue to exist and prosper, and 

 that each succeeding century may witness an ample harvest from its 

 labours, is the heartfelt wish of the President and Council of the 

 Royal Society. 



(Signed) " Kelvin, 



"Pres. R.S." 



I had the honour of presenting this address to the President of the 

 Institute of France in person. For myself and other Fellows of the 

 Royal Society who were present along with me I may be allowed to 

 say that we were much gratified with the friendly and fraternal 

 reception accorded to us, as colleagues and fellow labourers in the 

 work of the Institute. 



I am sorry to say that we are now losing the service, as Assistant- 

 Secretary, of Mr. Herbert Rix, who, after seventeen years of faithful 

 work for the Royal Society, retires from this post, as he finds the 

 necessarily increased anxiety and burden of the office to be too great 

 a strain upon his health. We all feel grateful to him for the manner 

 in which he has discharged his duties from the time he first entered 

 the service of the Royal Society ; and I am sure the Fellows gene- 

 rally will agree with the Council in being pleased that we have been 

 able to arrange to still have Mr. Rix to help us in our work, in the 

 less arduous post of Secretary to the Government Grant Committee. 



A very important scientific event of the past year, resulting from 

 work initiated by the Royal Society a quarter of a century ago, is 

 the completion of the ' Report of the " Challenger " Expedition,' in fifty 

 large royal quarto volumes containing 29,500 pages, and illustrated 

 by over 3,000 lithographic plates, copper-plates, charts, maps, and 

 diagrams. I may remind you that H.M.S. " Challenger " was fitted 

 out by the Government in 1872, on the recommendation of the Royal 

 Society, and was absent for nearly four years on an exploration of 

 the Great Ocean Basins. The publication of the numerous observa- 

 tions, which have enriched almost every branch of science, was at 

 first carried on under the direction of Sir C. Wyville Thomson, and 

 subsequently by Mr. John Murray. 



I have been myself much struck with the extreme beauty of many 



