976 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Angus Macdonald, one of the most distinguished of the many 
celebrated physicians of this city, a gentleman whose skill and 
conscientiousness marked him as one of the most able and devoted 
of the profession to which he belonged ; while in Dr Williamson, 
Leith has lost one of its most eminent men, who discharged with 
universal acceptance the important duties connected with the 
various medical offices which he held. 
It would not be easy for me, nor would it be desirable, to enter 
into a critical estimate of the value of the papers that have 
been submitted to us during the Session that is past, and their 
bearings upon the progress of science in this country ; yet it may 
not be out of place to say that they will contrast favourably with 
those issued by kindred societies in other parts of the world, and 
quite justify the impression that under the present administration 
of the Society’s affairs still greater results in the future will be 
obtained. 
Those who have taken part in our proceedings cannot fail to have 
observed that some of our physicists have dealt, and successfully 
dealt, with problems of surpassing difficulty, requiring for their 
solution the utmost resources of mathematical analysis, and the 
results thus obtained with so much thought and labour constitute 
real advances in the progress of science, which will at once facilitate 
the work and guide the steps of future inquirers. Others, again, of 
our physicists have preferred to investigate the causes of some of 
the grandest phenomena of nature by the aid of experiments of 
extreme simplicity, but not on that account less fruitful in results, 
and have shown to us that costly and elaborate apparatus and 
laboratories filled with mechanical resources are not indispensable 
for lifting the veil from the secrets of nature, when the investigator 
is guided by the zeal which animates and the disinterestedness 
which pursues truth as its own highest reward. 
With regard to the biological papers of this and past Sessions — 
many of which are of considerable value and interest, coming from 
what I may venture to call a distinguished school of biology which 
has grown up among us — I may remind the Society of the services of 
Dr John Murray, Director of the “Challenger” Expedition Com- 
mission, through whom, directly and indirectly, much valuable 
material has been contributed to our publications. From my own 
