200 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
with strong iron clamp rings, it was established between two lofty 
castellated piers 60 feet high, and raised to different altitudes by 
a strong chain cable attached to the top of the tube. 
With this noble instrument, which cost L. 20, 000, Lord Rosse 
made a series of important observations on nebulae and clusters of 
stars, which have been published in the Transactions of the Royal 
Society of London, who evinced the high value which they put 
upon them by giving him the Royal Medal. Many of the prin- 
cipal scientific institutions in Europe hastened to do him honour. 
In 1849 he was elected President of the Royal Society of London. 
The University of Cambridge conferred upon him the degree of 
LL.D. The Imperial Academy of St Petersburg elected him an 
honorary member; and he was a member of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy, and the Astronomical and Geological Societies of London. 
He was made a Knight of St Patrick by the Queen, and he received 
from Napoleon III. the decoration of the Legion of Honour. 
Lord Rosse was also a trustee of the British Museum, and in 1862 
he was elected Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin. 
In 1821 Lord Rosse was elected Member of Parliament for 
King’s County, and he continued to represent it till the end of 
the first reformed Parliament. After he succeeded his father 
in 1841, he sat in the Upper House as a representative Peer. 
After a protracted illness, Lord Rosse died at Monkstown, near 
Dublin, on the 31st of October 1867, and is succeeded by his eldest 
son, Lord Oxmantown, who inherits the taste and abilities of his 
father. 
James Smith of Jordanhill, an eminent geologist, was born in 
Glasgow on the 15tb August 1782, and was the son of Archibald 
Smith, a West Indian merchant resident in that city. After study- 
ing at the Grammar School and University of Glasgow, he became 
a partner in the West India house of Leitch and Smith; but he 
never took an active part in business, devoting his leisure entirely 
to literary and scientific pursuits. His love of yachting was one of 
the most prominent features of his life. He performed his first 
cruise to the Isle of Skye in 1806, in a small vessel of twelve tons, 
with Professor Milne and Dr Ure, and he was one of the earliest 
Commodores in the Royal Northern Yacht Club. He had thus 
