122 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30. 



it is possible not only to imitate the more prominent phenomena, to 

 copy the curve of magnetisation, and the loops produced by cyclic 

 forces, but also to detect minor details which were for long over- 

 looked in iron itself. 



Throughout these theoretical researches Professor Ewing has paid 

 attention to their practical applications. The well-known pheno- 

 menon which he has named " hysteresis " plays an important part 

 in the action of transformers. He has, on this account, invented 

 two instruments by which the magnetic properties of samples of 

 iron can be readily tested. 



Professor E wing's researches on Magnetic Induction are described 

 in a series of memoirs published in the 1 Transactions ' of the Royal 

 Society, and in a number of shorter papers which appeared chiefly 

 in the ' Roy. Soc. Proc' and the 'Reports of the British Associa- 

 tion.' He ranks as one of the principal authorities on a subject of 

 great theoretical and practical importance. He has thrown light 

 upon the theory, and has facilitated its application to industry. 



Davy Medal. 

 Professor William Ramsay, F.R.S. 



Professor Ramsay's earlier researches were in the department of 

 organic chemistry. Nearly twenty years ago he was carrying on 

 researches on Picoline and its Derivatives, which were published in 

 the ' Phil. Mag.' for 1887 and 1888, and on Quinine and its Decom- 

 position Products, the results of which were published in the ' Chem. 

 Soc. Trans.' for 1878 and 1879. 



Professor Ramsay's later researches have been more devoted to 

 subjects in the borderland dividing chemistry and physics. In 1879 

 and 3881, he published in the 'Chem. Soc. Trans.' four papers on 

 Molecular Volumes, and between the years 1880 and 1892 he com- 

 municated to the Royal Society eight papers on the Critical State 

 and Properties of Liquids, two being published in the ' Proceedings,' 

 and six in the ' Phil. Trans.' In 1893 he published the results of 

 researches on Molecular Surface Energy in the 'Phil. Mag.,' the 

 'Chem. Soc. Trans.,' and the * Proc. Roy. Soc' In 1893, he com- 

 municated to the 'Phil. Mag.' a very important paper on the Expan- 

 sion of Rarefied Gases. 



But the researches on which the award of the Davy Medal to Pro- 

 fessor Ramsay is chiefly founded are, firstly, those which he has 

 carried on, in conjunction with Lord Rayleigh, in the investigation of 

 the properties of argon, and in the discovery of improved and rapid 

 methods of getting it from the atmosphere ; and, secondly, his dis- 

 covery in certain rare minerals of a new elementary gas which 

 appears to be identical with the hitherto hypothetical solar element, 



