Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/93

 his appointment he published his ‘Scripture Doctrine of Creation’ and ‘The Philosophy of Human Responsibility,' His inaugural lecture as professor of moral philosophy was on ‘The Present Importance of Moral Science.' In 1873 appeared his ‘First Principles of Moral Science,’ being a course of lectures delivered during his professorship. This work was followed in 1874 by 'Modern Utilitarianism,’ in which the systems of Paley, Bentham, and Mill were examined and compared. In 1876 Birks delivered the annual address to the Victoria Institute, his subject being ‘The Uncertainties of Modern Physical Science.’ Birks published in 1876 his work on ‘Modern Physical Fatalism and the Doctrine of Evolution’ It contained the substance of a course of lectures devoted to the examination of the philosophy unfolded in Mr. Herbert Spencer's ‘First Principles,' Birks held the views expressed by Mr. Spencer ‘to be radically unsound, full of logical inconsistency and contradiction, and flatly opposed to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and even the very existence of moral science.' To the strictures upon his ‘First Principles’ Mr. Spencer replied at length, and this led to the republication, in 1882, of Birks’s treatise, with an introduction by Dr. Pritchard, F.R.S., Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, in which; Mr. Spencer's rejoinder was dealt with, and the original arguments of Birks illustrated and further explained.

Birks resigned the vicarage of Trinity in 1877, and in the same year published a volume on ‘Manuscript Evidence in the Text of the New Testament,' being an endeavour to bring ‘mathematical reasoning to bear on the probable value of the manuscripts of different, with a general inference in favour of the high wide of the cursive manuscripts as a class.’ In the same year Birks issued his ‘Supernatural Revelation,’ being an answer to a work on ‘Supernatural Religion,’ which had given rise to much criticism. Birks’s treatise was republished at a later period by Professor Pritchard, with a reply to objections that had been urged against it.

Early in 1875 Birks suffered from a paralytic seizure, and this was followed by a second stroke in 1877. He still took a deep interest in questions of the day, and was able to dictate various works, pamphlets, and letters bearing upon these questions. In April 1880, while residing in the New Forest, he was stricken for a third time, and fatally, with paralysis. He was conveyed home to Cambridge, where he lingered for three years, being incapacitated for intellectual effort. He died on 19 July 1883.

Birks was for twenty-one years honorary secretary to the Evangelical Alliance. He was an examiner for the theological examination at Cambridge in 1867 and 1868, and was a member of the board of theological studies. He took an active part in all university affairs during his connection with Cambridge, was appointed to preach the Ramsden sermon in 1867, and was frequently a select preacher before the university. In addition to the works named in the course of this article, Birks was the author of a considerable number of treatises on prophecy and other subjects connected with the older revelation, as well as of a ‘Memoir of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth.'

 BIRMINGHAM, JOHN (1816–1884), astronomer, was a country gentleman residing at Millbrook, near Tuam, Ireland, whose attention was directed to astronomy by his discovery of a remarkable new star in Corona Borealis on 12 May 1866 (Month. Not. xxvi. 310). In 1872, at the suggestion of the Rev. T. W. Webb, he undertook a revision of Schjellerup’s ‘Catalogue of Red Stars,’ and extended the scope of his task so as to include Schmidt's list from the ‘Astronomische Nachrichten’ (No. 1902), some ninety ruddy stars found by Webb and himself, with others ointed out by the late C. E. Burton—in all, 658 such objects reobserved with a 4½-inch reflector, and a magnifying power of 53. The spectra of several, as described by Secchi, D’Arrest, and others, were added. This valuable work was presented to the Royal Irish Academy on 26 June 1876, and published in their ‘Transactions’ (xxvi 249, 1879). Its merit was acknowledged by the bestowal of the Cunningham medal early in 1881. Birmingham was engaged in revising and extending it at the time of his death, which occurred at Millbrook, from an attack of jaundice, on 7 Sept. 1884. He was unmarried, a pious catholic, liberal, kindly, and unassuming. He possessed considerable linguistic accomplishments, had travelled in most parts of Europe, and was in correspondence with several foreign astronomers, notable with Father Secchi of Rome. He held for some time the post of inspector under the board of works.

On 22 May 1881 he discovered a deep red star in Cygnus, which proved strikingly 