1897 - 98 .] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
9 
ment of Chronic Osteoarthritis and the Growth of Spicular Osteo- 
phytes. From 1883 to 1890 he edited the Bristol Medico-Chirur- 
gical Journal. In 1888 he began to lecture on Surgery. His best 
known work, entitled Abdominal Surgery , has gone through six 
editions, and has been translated into French, German, and Italian. 
He died on 29th May 1897. He was elected a Fellow of this 
Society in 1883. 
Rev. John "Wilson. — A large circle of the Fellows of this 
Society, more especially those interested in mathematical science, 
will retain an affectionate remembrance of the late Rev. John 
Wilson, M. A. I am glad to ' say that a notice of him has been 
prepared by Dr Knott, and will be read at next meeting. 
Emile Dubois-Reymond w T as born in Berlin, of French-Swiss 
parents, and studied first at the French Gymnasium and after- 
wards at the University of Berlin. Under the tuition of Johannes 
Muller he devoted himself to the investigation of the phenomena 
of animal magnetism, and his researches led him to discomfit the 
vitalist school of physiologists, who affirmed the existence of a 
general magnetic vital fluid. With Helmholtz and Mayer, he 
showed that biological phenomena are governed by physical and 
chemical Jaws. His famous ‘ ignoravimus,’ as opposed to the 
‘ignoramus’ of the Agnostics, bore witness to his readiness to 
dogmatise wherever he felt certain .of his conclusions. Besides 
conducting successfully scientific investigations, he acquired great 
renown as a populariser of science. He was elected an Honorary 
Fellow of this Society in 1892, and died on 26th December 1896, 
at the age of 78. 
Professor Joannes Iapetus Smith Steenstrup of Copenhagen, 
after having acted as Lecturer on Mineralogy at Soroe, was 
appointed in 1845 Professor of Zoology and Director of the 
Zoological Museum at Copenhagen. He retired from his profes- 
sorial office in 1885. He was the author of a number of scientific 
publications, and was elected a 'Fellow of this Society in 1881. 
He died on the 20th of June 1897, at the age of 84. 
Sylvester (James Joseph), the youngest son of Abraham 
Joseph Sylvester, was born in London on 3rd September 1814, 
and from the Royal Institution, Liverpool, went to St John’s 
College, Cambridge. He was Second Wrangler in 1837. As a 
