Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/909

 PLUMPTEE.

the office of Secretary^ he became Inspector-General of Government Museums and Schools of Science. In. 1857 Professor Playfair was elected President of the Chemical Society of Iiondon^ and in 1858 was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh^ where he had the honour to num- ber among his pupils the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred. Professor Playfair was much employed by various governments to report on subjects of public interest. In conjunctioli with Sir Henry De La Beche^ he examined^ at the desire of the Admiralty, into the suitable- ness of the coals of the United Kingdom for the piirposes of the navy • and into the causes of acci- dents m mines. He was one of the Royal Commissioners appointed on the appearance of the cattle plague in this country, and was chairman of the Koyal Commission on the Fisheries of the Scottish coasts. This commission laid the basis for the withdrawal of legisla- tive restrictions on sea fisheries. He was president of the Civil Ser- vice Enquiry Commission of 1874, which produced an elaborate scheme for the reorganization of the Civil Service. Dr. Lyon Playfair was elected as member of Parliament for the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews in the general election of 1868, and is a Liberal in politics. He held office in the Ministry of 1873-4, as Postmaster- General, and was then made Privy Councillor. After the general elec- tion of 1880, he was appointed Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy-Speaker of the House of Commons. These offices he re- signed soon after the commence- ment of the Session of 1883, being on his retirement created a K.C.B. He holds honorary appointments as one of H.M.'s Commissioners in the Board of Manufactures, is one of the Eoyal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, and in addition to being member of many learned

societies, is Commander of the Legion of Honour ; Commander of the Austrian Order of Francis Joseph ; Knight of the Portugu^e Order of the Conception ; Knight of the Swedish Order of the Nor- thern Star ; and Knight of Wur- temberg. He was created LL.D. of the University of Edinbiirgh, April 12, 1869. Dr. Playfair edited, conjointly with W. Gregory, Baron Liebig*s ** Chemistry in its Applicar tions to Agriculture and Physi- ology." He is the author of nu- merous scientific memoirs, and on general subjects he has published '* Science in its Belations to Labour," being a speech delivered at the anniversary of the People's College, Sheffield, Oct. 25, 1853; " On the Food of Man in relation to his Useful Work," a lecture, 1865 ; •' On Primary and Technical Education," two lectures, 1870 ; " On Teaching Universities and Examining Boards," being an ad- dress to the Philosophical Institu- tion of Edinburgh, 1872; "Uni- versities in their relation t-o Professional Education," being an address to the St. Andrew's Gradu- ates* Association, 1873 ; and '* The Progress of Sanitary Reform," an address delivered at the annual meeting of the Social Science Asso- ciation at Glasgow, 1874.

PLUMPTRE, Charles John, eldest son of Edward H. Plumptre, of the Middle Temple, born in 1818, was called to the b«x at Gray's Inn in 1844. He was the first who originated the system of giving regular lectures on the various branches of professional elocution at the University of Oxford. From 1866 to 1883 he filled the office of Lecturer on Public Speaking and Reading at King's College, in the Evening Classes Department. He has also been engaged to give similar lectures at Downing Col- lege, Cambridge j the University of Durham ; the Presbyterian Theo- logical College ; the Jews' CoU^^ ; Wellington College ; Christ's Hos-