572 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess.. 
true conception of the time and thought Cunningham gave to the whole 
question. He became president of the Society during his last year in 
Dublin ; and there is no doubt that, although in 1903 he felt it his duty to 
obey the call to Edinburgh, he was sorry to part with his wild pets of the 
“ Zoo,” and especially with the young lion cubs whom he had known from 
their birth in captivity. 
In 1901 Cunningham wrote a pamphlet on the “ Origin and Early 
History of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland.” This eminently read- 
able tract is a good example of the author’s skill as a searcher of records. 
He showed how curiously fortuitous the initiation of the Society was, and 
how much its final success was due to its catholicity of spirit and to the 
self-devotion of the early secretaries and presidents. This interest in the 
history of institutions was almost a passion with Cunningham, and many 
of his less technical addresses take the form of an historic sketch. 
Keenly interested in horses and cattle, Cunningham was also for a 
number of years the honorary secretary and afterwards vice-president 
of the Royal Dublin Society, whose annual show is one of the outstanding 
events in Dublin, and indeed in all Ireland. In the same connection 
may be mentioned his services in helping to found the Royal Veterinary 
College. 
A man of Cunningham’s scientific eminence could not long escape the 
eye of the administrators of national affairs. Accordingly, we find him 
serving on the Viceregal Commission appointed to inquire into the condi- 
tion of the Inland Fisheries of Ireland (1900), on the Royal Commission 
on the Care of the Sick and Wounded during the South African War 
(1900), and on the War Office Commission appointed to report on the Physical 
Standards required for Candidates for Commissions and for Recruits. 
More recently he was convener of the Committee appointed to look after 
the arrangements for the medical equipment of the Territorial force in 
the East of Scotland. 
Professor Cunningham entered on what might be called the third 
great stage of his life in 1903, when he was invited to return to Edinburgh 
University and take up the duties of the chair of Anatomy, which his 
former master, Sir William Turner, had vacated on assuming the office 
of Principal. Here at once he stepped into the very heart of the scientific 
life of the city. Many of the leading physicians had been his associates 
and pupils in the early days, and the younger medical men knew him 
as a foremost anatomist and author. The University staff* still contained 
a goodly number of his former colleagues, and one and all welcomed him 
back to the scenes of his early triumphs. It seemed but natural that he 
