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of Edinburgh, Session 1878 - 79 . 
During the last Session, the Neill Prize for the triennial period 
1874-77 was awarded to Dr Traquair for his paper on the “Struc- 
ture and Affinities of Tristichopterus alatus ” (Egerton), published 
in the twenty-seventh volume of our “ Transactions ; ” and also for 
the many contributions he has made to the knowledge of the struc- 
ture of recent and fossil fishes. 
Among our Eoreign Honorary Fellows, Henri Victor Eegnault 
deservedly held a foremost place, especially as an experimental 
philosopher, alike in chemistry and in physics. Born at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, July 21st 1811, he came to Paris in his early youth with 
the sole object of obtaining a livelihood. While engaged as a shop- 
man in a bazaar, he made such good use of his scanty leisure as to 
qualify himself for admission to the Fcole Polytechnique (1830). 
In 1832 he became a pupil in the Fcole des Mines. Thereafter he 
was for sometime a Professor in Lyons; but, in 1840, returned to 
Paris, having been elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences 
in consequence of important investigations in Organic Chemistry. 
He became, in 1847, Pigenieur-en-chef of the second class, and 
Professor of Chemistry in the Fcole Polytechnique , and of Physics 
in the College de France , and was made Director of the Imperial 
Porcelain Manufactory at Sevres in 1854. 
Eegnault’s first published chemical work was on the action of 
potash on the oil of the Dutch chemists (1835). His discovery of the 
bodies now known as chloride, bromide, and iodide of vinyl had a 
very important bearing on the development of the radical theory, 
and his speculations on the relations of these substances to aldehyde 
brought about a temporary agreement in opinion as to the constitu- 
tion of acetic acid and analogous substances between Berzelius, 
Liebig, and Dumas. 
In 1838 and 1839, Eegnault published investigations on the 
action of chlorine on the oil of Dutch chemists and on hydrochloric 
ether. He stated, in a very precise form, a view as to the per- 
sistency of molecular arrangement, which (along with the views 
already expressed by Dumas and by Laurent) contributed to found 
the “ Substitution Theory,” over which Berzelius and the French 
chemists had a long and bitter controversy. The two investigations 
