ii 



applied mechanics, as well as the breadth of his reading and the 

 extent of his knowledge as to what had been done in the way of 

 applying mathematics in almost every branch of mechanics, but 

 particularly in matters connected with hydraulics . together with the 

 interest which he took in, and the ease with which he apprehended, 

 all abstruse matters that might be brought forward, rendered his 

 presence as between an author and his audience almost equivalent to 

 that of a judge in court. 



The number of Committees of the British Association on which he 

 sat is some evidence of the number of subjects in which he took deep 

 interest. He held decided though liberal views concerning the best 

 method of education ; these he expounded in his address, as President 

 of Section G, at Glasgow, which is printed in the British Association 

 Export, 1876, and is well worthy of the most careful consideration. 

 He strongly urges more language and less grammar, more drawing 

 and less geometry; or, as he himself expresses it, more marching and 

 less drill. 



For the following details the author of this memoir is mainly 

 indebted to a notice which appeared in " Nature," from the pen of 

 Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher :— 



Charles Watkins Merrifield was born at Brighton in 1827, and died 

 at Hove on January 1st, 1884, in his fifty-seventh year. His educa- 

 tion was, as he himself describes it in the address already referred to, 

 mainly classical and legal. He was called to the bar ; but had pre- 

 viously accepted an appointment in the Education Department of 

 the Privy Council Office, from which he was promoted to the office of 

 Examiner. His first published paper was " On the Geometry of 

 the Elliptic Equation," in 1858, and was speedily followed by papers 

 on the calculation of elliptic functions, two of which were published 

 in the " Philosophical Transactions." In 1863 he was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society. His mathematical work related to the calcula- 

 tions used in naval architecture, and he became a Member of the 

 Royal Institute of Naval Architects, and contributed a paper to their 

 " Transactions " in 1865. 



In 1867 the Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engi- 

 neering at South Kensington was established, and at the request of the 

 Government Mr. Merrifield accepted temporarily the office of Vice- 

 Principal ; and on the unfortunate death of the first Principal, Mr. 

 Purkiss, Mr. Merrifield was appointed Principal. This office he held 

 until, in 1873, the Institution was transferred to Greenwich, when he 

 resumed his office of Examiner in the Education Department. His 

 connexion with the School of Naval Architects added greatly to his 

 previous interest in naval science. He published many papers on 

 this subject in the "Annual" of the school, and in the "Transac- 

 tions " of the Institute, of which he had become Honorary Secretary. 



