284 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
record the sense of our own sorrow, and of our strong sympathy 
with that deeper personal affliction which is felt by the widow and 
children of so great and good a man. 
Professor Sir James Y. Simpson moved the following resolution, 
which was seconded by Thomas Stevenson, Esq., and unanimously 
adopted : — 
“ The Royal Society of Edinburgh hereby record their deep sense 
of the great loss which the Society have sustained by the death of 
their late venerable and esteemed President, Sir David Brewster. 
“ Early in life an earnest worker and a happy discoverer in some 
of the most recondite fields of physical knowledge, Sir David 
Brewster has, during the last sixty and more years, continued with 
ceaseless energy to pour into the contemporary stream of science 
and literature a series of contributions of rare excellence and 
originality. At last he has passed from among us, as ripe in fame 
as in years ; for he has reaped all the highest academic and other 
distinctions, both domestic and foreign, which a British philosopher 
can possibly win, and in his chosen departments of research he has 
left behind him no name more illustrious than his own. 
“The Society further resolve to send a copy of this minute to 
Lady Brewster and the other members of Sir David Brewster’s 
family, at the same time expressing their sincere sympathy with 
them in their late bereavement.” 
The following Communications were read : — 
1. Observations relative to the Desireableness of Transport- 
ing from Alexandria to Britain the prostrate Obelisk 
presented to George IV. by Mahomed Ali Pacha. By 
Colonel Sir J. E. Alexander, K.C.L.S. 
In the month of September last (1867), when visiting the Great 
Exhibition in Paris, I was particularly struck with the fine appear- 
ance of the obelisk of Luxor in the Place de la Concorde, and I 
thought that as the French had taken the trouble and gone to the 
expense of moving this highly interesting monolith, it was a re- 
flection on our nation and on the engineering skill of Britain that 
the prostrate obelisk at Alexandria (one of Cleopatra’s needles, as it 
