35 
of Edinburgh , Session 1872 - 73 . 
our last ordinary meeting — Professor Macquorn Rankine of Glasgow 
University; the Very Rev. Dean Ramsay, Edinburgh ; and Archi- 
bald Smith of Jordanhill. The Council think that it is only a 
fitting tribute to the memory of our deceased colleagues that I 
should express regret at the loss which we, in common with others, 
have sustained, and that I should also briefly allude to their con- 
nection with this Society and with science, leaving to a future 
occasion the duty of giving a fuller biographical account of each. 
Professor Ranking, when he died, was one of our vice-presidents, 
having joined the Society in the year 1850. Important scientific 
investigations were carried on by him, and were the subjects of 
numerous papers read at our meetings, and published in our Trans- 
actions. A series of six papers “ On the Mechanical Action of 
Heat ” gained for him our Keith prize in the year 1853. Our 
Transactions also contain papers by him “On the Centrifugal Theory 
of Electricity,” “On the Specific Heat of Water at various Tem- 
peratures,” “On the Absolute Zero of the Gas Thermometer,” and 
“On the Thermal Efficacy of Molecular Vortices.” Professor 
Rankine was not only the most eminent Professor of Engineering- 
known in Great Britain, but he was also distinguished for his know- 
ledge of pure science. His merit as a man of science was- recognised 
by the British Association when he was chosen to be president, once 
of their mathematical, and twice of their mechanical sections. 
Glasgow University has by the death of this eminent man lost one 
of her most useful professors, so that in many quarters the utmost 
regret will be felt at his death. The Very Rev. Dean Edward 
Bannerman Ramsay was an M.A., an LL.D., and Fellow of our 
Society. In the years 1828 and 1829 he was one of the secretaries 
of our ordinary meetings, and in the years 1859 to 1861, he was 
one of our vice-presidents. In the year last named, at the special 
request of the council, he gave an opening address from this chair 
on the commencement of the winter session, which address was 
published in our Proceedings. The only paper read by him to the 
Society on a particular subject was a biographical memoir of the 
Rev. Dr Chalmers, with whom he had been on terms of friendship ; 
and the memoir was published in our Transactions. I may add, 
that one of the last public acts of the Dean, other than professional, 
was to convene a meeting in this city, to obtain funds for a monu- 
