Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/380



HE RIGHT HON. SIR LYON PLAYFAIR, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., the son of the late Dr. George Playfair, Inspector-General of Hospitals in Bengal, was educated at the Universities of St. Andrews and Giessen, and at University College, and was a favourite pupil of the celebrated chemists, Graham and Liebig. After managing for some years some calico-printing works at Clitheroe, he became, at the age of twenty-four, Professor of Chemistry in the Manchester Royal Institution, and Professor of Chemistry in Edinburgh University in 1856. Dr. Playfair served on numerous Royal Commissions; for instance, that of 1844, which inquired into the sanitary condition of towns, and the Civil Service Commission of 1874, of which he was president, and which produced the "Playfair Scheme," and his reports were marked by great ability. He was a Special Commissioner at the Great Exhibition of 1851, at the close of which, in recognition of his scientific services, he was made a Companion of the Bath, and received an appointment in the household of the Prince Consort. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews in 1868. He held office in the Ministry of 1873-4 as Postmaster-General, and was made a Privy Councillor. In 1880 he was appointed Chairman of Ways and Means, and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. During his term of office it fell to his lot to deal with the Irish question, at a time when party spirit ran high, and his suspension of the whole of the Irish members in 1882 was one of the most remarkable incidents of recent Parliamentary warfare. In 1885 he was President of the British Association. Sir Lyon Playfair is the author of numerous scientific works, as well as of numerous books on general subjects.