1899-1900.] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
5 
to your persevering devotion of labour and genius to the increase 
of knowledge during fifty-seven years. 
“We rejoice to know that you enjoy good health and undiminished 
activity in scientific work. We hope that these may be continued 
to you for many years to come. 
11 May Ip, 1892.” 
(Signed) “ Kelvin, President. 
( „ ) “P. G. Tait, Secretary. 
Three of the Fellows of the Society — Sir John Murray, Professor 
D’Arcy Thompson, and Mr Walter E. Archer — were appointed 
representatives of the British Government at the International 
North Sea Conference on Northern Fisheries. 
We have had, at the request of the Council, three Addresses, of 
which the first was given by Admiral Makaroff on the construction 
of a ship, said to be the strongest in the world, made for the 
Russian Government for the purpose of breaking up the ice which 
for several months of the year blocks the Russian ports, and he 
insisted on the desirableness of ascertaining the temperatures and 
currents of the ocean. 
Mr Andrews, of the British Museum, delivered the second 
special Address, in which he described the Geological Structure of 
Christmas Island, with its rich deposits of phosphate of lime, and 
several new genera and species of animals which he found there. 
Professor Knott gave the third Address, which was on Earth- 
quake Vibrations, their Propagation through the Earth, and their 
bearing on the Earth’s internal state. 
Dr Muir and Lord M‘Laren have given Papers developing that 
branch of Mathematics known as Determinants, and Professor Tait 
has not been forgetful of Quaternion problems, and has treated of 
homogeneous strains. 
The following brief obituary notices of Fellows of the Society, 
who have died during last Session, are by no means intended 
to supersede longer and more complete notices should such be 
furnished by the relatives and friends of the deceased. 
George James Allman was born at Cork in 1812, and was 
educated at the Belfast Academical Institution. He took his 
