Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/367

Rh The two following names of Fellows who died in the year 1840 were omitted in the report of last year, and require, therefore, to be noticed in the present report :

Simon L'Huillier, of Geneva. Felix Savart, of Paris. Ceased to be Fellows in default of their annual payments, Francis Corbaux, Esq. Edmund S. Halswell, Esq., M.A. The Rev. Dionysius Lardner, LL.D.

The Vice-President in the Chair having called upon Dr. Roget, the senior Secretary, to read to the Meeting the biographical me- moirs which he had written of some of the Fellows lately deceased,

Dr. Roget begged leave to observe, that, for many years past, it has been customary for the President, in his anniversary addresses to the Society, to give narratives of the leading incidents in the lives, and an account of the scientific labours of the more distin- guished associates of whom death had deprived us during the pre- ceding year. The utility of such a retrospect, he remarked, is suf- ficiently obvious. Consolation may be afforded to the survivors by the just tribute thus publicly paid to the memory of those they mourn. In marking the several steps of their ascent to eminence, in retracing the services they have rendered to science and to man- kind, and in establishing their respective claims to our respect, our admiration and our gratitude, fresh motives of emulation are pre- sented to those who are following in the same arduous paths, and aspiring to the same honourable distinctions. The Society can never forget how well these objects have been fulfilled by the excellent bio- graphical notices we have been accustomed to hear from our Presi- dents on each returning anniversary, and must feel how much reason they have to regret the omission of the usual discourse from the Chair on the present occasion. It is with a view to prevent this interruption of the series being drawn into a precedent, that Dr. Roget has now been induced, by the desire of the President, to at- tempt supplying, however imperfectly, the omission he has alluded to. Having but little leisure to perform this task, he wished to claim the indulgence of the Meeting for the many imperfections they will discover in the mode of its execution.

Of the deceased members on the home list. Dr. Roget has been able to notice only two, namely, Mr. Bauer and Sir Astley Cooper, not having received, with regard to the rest, any authentic information which was deserving of record in this place. It is impossible for him, however, to pass over in complete silence the honoured name of one, whose loss within these few days we all so deeply deplore — the late Sir Francis Chantrey. But the calamity is too recent