Page:History of the Royal Astronomical Society (1923).djvu/215

 1870-80] ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 187 Chinese will be found in the Monthly Notices, and in 1871 he pub- lished a book on Observations of Comets, from B.C. 611 to A.D. 1640, extracted from the Chinese annals, which was in no way a publication of the Society, but was privately printed by the author. Mr. Williams could not be persuaded to resign his post, even when he might well have done so, on the Society's removal to Burlington House, but the sudden death of his wife on November 10, after a union of fifty-two years, brought on symptoms of heart disease, and he died after much suffering, 1874 December 3, in his seventy- eighth year. The business of the Society was carried on for a time by Mr. Edwin Dunkin, junior, son of the Secretary, and advertisements were inserted in several papers which brought twenty-eight applications. This number was reduced to five, and finally Mr. William Henry Wesley was appointed, and entered on his duties soon after the Annual Meeting. Referring for further particulars to the Obituary Notice in M.N., 83, we shall only mention here that Mr. Wesley was born in Derbyshire, 1841 August 23, and died in his rooms at Burlington House, 1922 October 17. He came to London in 1855 and was apprenticed to an engraver. From 1862 he did a great many drawings for Huxley, Herbert Spencer, Richard Owen, and other scientific men. He was persuaded by Mr. Ranyard to apply for the post of our Assistant Secretary, and when he had entered on his duties he threw himself into his work with great devotion and became a valuable official, to whom both the Society generally and individual Fellows owe a debt which can never be forgotten. His great artistic skill rendered considerable service to astronomy by his beautiful drawings of the corona from photographs of many eclipses and his carefully engraved charts of the Milky Way. It is a satisfaction to his many friends to remember that Wesley had the pleasure to view a total eclipse of the sun at the Algiers Observatory on 1900 May 28. Reference to the Annual Accounts in the February numbers of the Monthly Notices shows that Mr. Wesley, in addition to comfortable lodgings, received a salary on appointment of 150 per year, which was increased to 225 by resolution of Council on 1879 November 14, and later to 250. From 1860 to 1881 a sum of 60 yearly was paid to Professor Cayley, who succeeded Professor Grant as Editor of the Society's publications. At the Annual General Meeting in 1875 February the Gold Medal was awarded to Professor D' Arrest, Director of the Observa- tory of Copenhagen, for his observations of nebulae. The reading of the Report at this meeting disclosed an incident which provoked some comment, for it appeared that instruments had been lent to