Annual Report of the Council. 



liii. 



Sir Joseph Prestwich — the Nestor, as he has been 

 called, of British geologists — was occupied in his later 

 years with the production of his " Manual of Geology," 

 a work which bears the impress of his wide knowledge and 

 incessant industry. He died at his home at Shoreham, 

 Kent, on June 23, 1896, full of honours and respected by all 

 who had the privilege of his acquaintance.* 



Henri Aime Resal was born at Plombieres (Vosges) on 

 January 27, 1828, and died August 25, 1896. He was the 

 author of numerous books on mining mechanics, and various 

 papers on geology and applied mathematics were published 

 by him in the Annates des Mines and the Memoir es de la Societe 

 d' Emulation du Doubs. From 1875 -1884 he edited the Journal 

 de Mathematiques pures et appliquees. In 1870 Resal was 

 appointed to be Professor of Mechanics at the Ecole Poly- 

 technique, and in 1888 received the post of Inspector- 

 General of Mines. He was President of the Societe 

 Mathematique de France, a member of the Academie des 

 Sciences, and an officer of the Legion d'Honneur. Resal 

 was elected an honorary member of this Society on April 

 30, 1889. 



James Joseph Sylvester was born in London on 

 September 13, 1814. He was educated at the Liverpool 

 Institute, and at St. John's College, Cambridge. In the 

 Mathematical Tripos of 1837 he appeared second in a list 

 which is otherwise memorable as containing the name of 

 Green. His religious disability (he was of Jewish origin) 

 prevented him from proceeding to a degree, and from 

 gaining the Fellowship which would have naturally fol- 

 lowed. His subsequent career was somewhat varied. 

 After holding for a short time teaching posts in London 

 and in Virginia, he supported himself by actuarial work, 

 until in 1855 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics 



* For fuller notices, see Proc. Roy. Soc, Vol. 60, pp. xii.-xvi. ; Quart. 

 Jouru. Geol. Soc, Vol. 53, pp. xlix.-lii. ; and Nature, Vol. 54, pp. 202-3. 



