154 



Anniversary Address hy Sir A. Geikie. [Nov. 30, 



home in Devonshire, will cherish the remembrance of his scientific accom- 

 plishments, his social charm, and his characteristic Irish humour. 



Thomas "William Bridge, trained in the Cambridge school of zoologists, 

 was one of the oldest and most respected professors in the Mason College 

 •and more recently in the University of Birmingham. His researches on the 

 anatomy of fishes have given him an honoured place among the men who 

 drew their inspiration from Frank Balfour and Alfred Newton. 



To systematic botany, and more especially to the botany of India, the late 

 Sir George King rendered important service. His death, at the age of 

 sixty-nine, has removed from our ranks one of the most modest and 

 meritorious of retired Indian officials. 



Two of our representatives of engineering science have passed away 

 since this time last year. In Francis Elgar we mourn the loss of one of the 

 most distinguished naval architects of his generation. Bindon Blood Stoney 

 has left many enduring monuments of his skill and resource as a civil 

 engineer in harbour works, bridges, and other constructions over the face of 

 Ireland, while his treatise ou the Theory of Stresses has long held high rank 

 in engineering literature. 



George Gore, who died at the ripe age of eighty-three, will be remembered for 

 the number and value of his contributions to chemistry and electro-metallurgy. 

 His memory will also be kept alive in the Eoyal Society by a bequest which 

 he has left to us. Only a few days ago our losses for the year have been 

 increased l)y the death of the able chemist, William James Eussell, who 

 has recently been a fre(iuent contributor to our ' Proceedings,' and whose 

 kindly face for more than thirty years has been familiar at our meetings. 



In considering the special subject to which this Address should be devoted, 

 I have been led to select one on which I believe much misapprehension to 

 exist, not only in the world outside these walls, but even among our own 

 Fellows. I liave often been impressed by the exceedingly imperfect or 

 erroneous conception generally entertained as to the work in which the Koyai 

 .Society is engaged. We are known to hold weekly meetings for the reading 

 and discussion of scientific papers, and to publish these papers in the long 

 series of volumes wherein the record of our activity is preserved. Wni it is 

 not commonly known that these meetings and the publications to which 

 they give rise, though they constitute the most important part of the labours 

 of the Society, so far as relates to the progress of discovery, form only 

 a portion of a prograiiinie which is every year becoming fuller and 

 demanding more time, thought, and funds ibr its accomplishniont. 1 have 

 theiefore judged lliat it might serve, a useful purpose were 1 on this 



