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658 liked to have his own way. At first, as was natural, we sometimes surged against each other; but these little oppositions were rapidly adjusted, and for many years before his death the tie of brother to brother was not truer or tenderer than that which united myself and Bence Jones. On my return from the United States I found him dying. In fact, the knowledge of his condition caused me to take leave, earlier than I otherwise should have done, of a people that I had learned to trust and love. Soon after my return I saw him lowered into the grave.

The death of Bence Jones, whose steadfast loyalty to the Institution he loved so well, showed itself to the last, was a sore calamity to be met. At that time one man only seemed fitted to supply his place. That man was the beloved and lamented William Spottiswoode. To him I appealed to stand by the Institution at a critical hour of its fortunes. He had his own mathematical work on hand, and he was too well acquainted with the duties of our honorary secretaryship to accept them lightly. After much reflection, he wrote me a letter regretfully but distinctly declining the office. But he reflected a second time. He knew that his refusal would cause me pain, and his affection for me prevailed. "When, therefore, the letter of refusal—for he sent it to me—came, it was accompanied by a second letter, canceling the refusal and accepting the post. With William Spottiswoode I had the happiness of working in close companionship for six years. The diligence, wisdom, and success with which he discharged his onerous duties—the princely hospitality which shed a glow upon the office while he held it—are well remembered. Of the dignity with which he afterward filled the high position now occupied by the illustrious man who presides here this evening it is needless to speak. Him also we have seen lowered to his rest, amid the grief of friends assembled to do honor to his memory. Such were the men who served the Royal Institution in the past; and their example has been worthily followed by other men of eminence, still happily among us. Never was an institution better served than the Royal Institution, and not by its honorary secretaries alone. With singleness of purpose and purity of aim, its successive presidents, boards of managers, and honorary treasurers have unswervingly promoted the noble work of investigation and discovery. May they never lower the flag which, for well-nigh a century, they have kept victoriously unfurled!

The year after my appointment I was called upon to deliver, in conjunction with Dr. Whewell, Faraday, Sir James Paget, and some other eminent men, one of a series of lectures on scientific education. I then referred with serious emphasis to the workers in our coal-mines, and to the terrible perils of their occupation. I pointed to the intellectual Samsons toiling with closed eyes in the mills and forges of Manchester and Birmingham, and I said, "Give these toilers sight by the teachings of science, and you diminish the causes of calamity,