May 24, 1858 .] 
( 239 ) 
ADDRESS 
TO THE 
ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 
OF LONDON; 
Delivered at the Anniversary Meeting on the 24 th May , 1858, 
By Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 
G.C.St.S., D.C.L., M.A., F.R.S., &C., 
PRESIDENT. 
Gentlemen - , — At the last Anniversary it was my mournful task to 
advert- to the great losses we had sustained by the decease of my two 
predecessors as well as of several other geographers of distinction. 
Although on this occasion the hand of death has not fallen so 
heavily upon our leaders, we have still to lament that some of our 
most distinguished associates have been taken from us. At the 
head of this list I unquestionably place the name of one who, after 
a long and well-spent life, has passed away in the ripeness of age, 
having won for himself the admiration of all those who knew him 
during the last half century. That man was Rear-Admiral Sir 
Francis Beaufort, who, whether we look to the bravery, zeal, and 
talent - he displayed in his earlier days as a naval officer afloat (one 
whom every sailor would have followed to the death), or to his 
maturer years when he shone as the bright scientific light of the 
British Admiralty, has his memory embalmed in our love and 
respect. 
I will not now attempt to lay before you details respecting a 
seaman whose naval career and professional merits have already 
been ably and succinctly delineated by his old associate in arms, 
Admiral Smyth, in the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 
Due honour to his name and deeds will doubtless further be 
paid in the ensuing anniversary discourse of the President of the 
Royal Society, of which parent body he was also a distinguished 
