MRS. SOMERVILLE.

This accomplished and venerable old lady, who died at Naples on the 29th inst., had attained a great age. If she had

survived until the 26th of December she would have entered on her ninety-third year, having been born in Roxburghshire on Dec. 26, 1780. Her father, the late Vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, Knight Banneret, and Lord Duncan's flag-captain at Camperdown, was the younger son of Mr. Joseph Fairfax, of Bagshot, Surrey. Sir William's second wife was Margaret, daughter of Mr. Samuel Charters, Solicitor of Customs for Scotland, who was the mother of Mary Somerville and the late Sir Henry Fairfax. The daughter, as Mary Fairfax, was educated in a private school at Musselburgh, near Edinburgh. She was twice married. Her first husband was Captain Samuel Greig, son of High Admiral Greig, of the Russian navy, a distinguished officer under the Empress Catherine. Left a widow, with one son, Mr. Woronzow Greig (since deceased), she some years afterwards married her cousin, Dr. William Somerville, by which marriage she had three daughters, two of them now surviving her.

It is more than fifty years since Mrs. Somerville has been known as a profound student and writer of treatises upon the physical and mathematical sciences. In 1826 she presented to the Royal Society a paper on The Magnetizing Power of the more refrangible Solar Rays," in which she detailed her repetitions of the experiments made by Morichini, of Rome, and Bérard, of Montpelier. The paper had for its object to prove whether solar light is a source of magnetic power. By means of a prism the component rays of a sunbeam were separated, and those which are now known as the chemical or actinic rays were allowed to fall upon delicately-poised needles of various sizes which had been previously proved to be devoid of magnetism. In every instance the steel exhibited the true magnetic character after an exposure of several hours to the violet light. Experiments were then made by covering unmagnetic needles with blue glass shades and placing them in the sun, and in all cases they became magnetic. From these experiences Mrs. Somerville concluded that the more refrangible rays of the solar spectrum, even in our latitude, have a strong magnetic influence. This communication was printed in the Philosophical Transactions at the time; and it led to much discussion on a very difficult point of experimental inquiry, which was only set at rest some years later by

the researches of two German electricians' Riess and Moser, who showed that the action upon the magnetic needle was not caused by the violet rays. In 1831 or 1832 Mrs. Somerville published her "Mechanism of the Heavens." This book, her only strictly astronomical work, which is largely derived from Laplace's celebrated treatise, "La Mécanique Céleste," is understood to have been proposed by Lord Brougham as one of the publications of the Society for the Diffu sion of Useful Knowledge; but, being moulded on too large a scale for their series, it was given to the world in an independent shape. A few years later her name became more widely known by her "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," a work, original in plan and perfect in execution, which has been called "a true 'Cosmos' in the nature of its design and in the multitude of materials collected and condensed into the history which it affords of the physical phenomena of the universe." This she followed up with her "Physical Geography," which, as its name imports, comprises the history of the earth in its whole material organization. These two works, in addition to their popularity in this country, as testified by the many editions through which they have passed, have been translated into several foreign languages; and their author's services to geographical science were recognized in 1869 by the award of the Victoria medal of the Royal Geographical Society. In the same year she gave to the world her Molecular and Microscopic Science," a complete conspectus of some of the most recent and most abstruse researches of modern science. It describes admirably not only the discoveries of our day in the field of physics and chemistry, but more especially the revelations of the microscope in the vegetable and animal worlds.

In a letter written since her death Sir Henry Holland, one of Mrs. Somerville's oldest friends, says: "I happen to know that within the last year of her life she desired to be sent to her at Naples Professor Hamilton's 'Calculus of Quaternions,' a record of one of the most recent and remarkable attainments in the higher mathematics. It is interesting to associate this fact with one dated sixty years before. In 1811 Mrs. Somerville received a medal at Edinburgh as a prize for the solution of some mathematical problem."

Her scientific labours during this long interval of years gave to Mrs. Somerville's name a high reputation, eminently merited, and not limited to our own country. In France, Germany, and Italy they were well known and duly valued.

The testimonies of Laplace, Humboldt, Herschel, Airey, Davy, and Faraday all stand on record to warrant their excellence. The Royal Society, and the Astronomical and Geographical Societies, bestowed their honours upon her, so far as their rules and usages allowed in the case of a lady. The pension of 300l. a year given to her under Sir Robert Peel's administration was fully sanctioned by the feelings of the scientific community, as well as by those who knew her various other attainments and the virtues and graces of her private life.

December.

VISCOUNTESS BEACONSFIELD.

The Right Hon. Mary Ann, Viscountess Beaconsfield in her own right, and wife of the Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, died at Hughenden Manor, near High Wycombe, on the 15th instant. Her Ladyship, the only daughter of John Viney Evans, Esq., of Brampford Speke, Devonshire, and niece of General Sir James Viney, K.C.H., of Taynton Manor, Gloucestershire, was married, first, to Wyndham Lewis, Esq., of Greenmeadow, in the county of Glamorgan, M.P. for Maidstone, and was left a widow March 14, 1838. She was married, secondly, September, 1839, to the Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, of Hughenden Manor, Bucks, M.P., P.C., and was raised to the Peerage, Nov. 30, 1868, as Viscountess Beaconsfield, on the retirement of her husband from the office of First Lord of the Treasury. The title (her Ladyship having died without issue) becomes ex

tinct.

DR. BOWERS.

The death is announced, at Leamington, on December 27, of the Very Rev. George Hull Bowers, D.D., who had recently resigned the Deanery of Manchester. He succeeded the Hon. Dr. Herbert as Dean of Manchester in 1847. Dr. Bowers was born in the year 1794. His preliminary education was obtained at the Grammar School in Pembroke, whence he was sent to Clare College, Cambridge. His career was a brilliant one, his applica. tion to study being unremitting, his natural talents very considerable, and his early training sound and thorough. In the year 1819 he was ordained priest, in 1829 the degree of B.D. was conferred upon

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him, and that of D.D. in 1849. He was appointed Select Preacher to his University in 1830. His first pastoral charge was the perpetual curacy of Elstow, Bedfordshire, which he held from 1819 to 1832, when he removed to London. rector of St. Paul's, Covent Garden-an appointment for which he was indebted to the late Duke of Bedford-he acquired considerable influence and popularity, and was regarded as one of the ablest and most successful preachers in the metropolis. Dr. Bowers published in 1842" A Scheme for the Foundation of Schools for the Sons of Clergymen and Others," which led to the foundation by him (in conjunction with the Rev. E. Plater) of Marlborough College, Wilts. He also originated Haileybury College (late the East India College), and Rossall School, of which he was chairman, on a plan similar to that of Marlborough. Dr. Bowers's remaining contributions to the press consist of "A Volume of Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge," and another, entitled "Sermons preached in St. Paul's, Covent Garden, in 1848." He was a warm supporter of the open church movement, and of the principle of the offertory as a substitute for pew rents. Dr. Bowers was twice married. One of his daughters has acquired some celebrity as a successful delineator of the scenes of the hunting field and of country life, which have become widely known in Punch.

THE HON. LADY DOUGHTY.

The Hon. Mary Katharine, Lady Doughty, who died at Tichborne House on the 12th inst., was daughter of James Everard, ninth Lord Arundell of Wardour, and was married, June 26, 1827, to Edward Doughty, Esq., who had, in the previous year, exchanged his paternal name of Tichborne for that of Doughty, and who, in 1845, succeeded to the old family baronetcy, at the decease of his elder brother, Sir Henry Joseph Tichborne, Bart., of Tichborne, Hants. The issue of the marriage consisted of one son and one daughter-viz., Henry Tichborne Doughty, born Aug. 8, 1829, who died May 30, 1835; and Katharine Doughty, now Lady Radcliffe.

MR. J. K. LORD.

The death of Mr. John Keast Lord, the manager of the Brighton Aquarium, is announced. Mr. Lord was laid up with a severe attack of paralysis some months

since, but though it was known that he was not in the enjoyment of robust health, it was far from being generally thought that his indisposition would so soon be brought to a fatal termination. Mr. Lord was not confined to his house till about twelve days ago, when he caught a cold. He died at his residence, 17, Dorset-gardens, Brighton, on the morning of December 9. Mr. Lord, who was in his fifty-fifth year, was unmarried, and leaves no near relations except a brother, whose whereabouts is not yet known. Originally a captain in the Royal Artillery, in which capacity he served in the Crimean war, and took part in the battle of Balaklava, Mr. Lord seems to have always entertained an intense love for the study of natural history; and at the close of the Russian campaign he quitted the army for a field in every way more congenial to his tastes. He now devoted himself to the study of nature in good earnest, and spent some time in Vancouver Island, which he appears to have thoroughly investigated. The results of his labours were afterwards given to the world in "The Naturalist in Vancouver Island;" and he subsequently published, among other works, "The Naturalist on the Amazons." Mr. Lord afterwards served on the North American Boundary Commission, and later on was engaged by the Viceroy of Egypt to report upon certain characteristics of that country. It was from Egypt, we believe, that he was called by the directors of the Aquarium to take the appointment for which he was SO peculiarly fitted.

ADMIRAL LYONS.

Admiral John Lyons, R.N., who died at Worthing on the 15th inst., was the eldest son of John Lyons, Esq., of Lyons, Antigua, and St. Austin's, Hampshire, by Catharine, his wife, daughter of Main Swete Walrond, Esq., of Montrath, Devon, and was brother of the celebrated Admiral Lord Lyons, G.C.B. (so created 1856), and consequently uncle of the present Lord Lyons, her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris. He was born Sept. 1, 1787, and at the age of eleven entered the Navy on board the "St. George," for some time Lord Nelson's flagship, and was in the action of Copenhagen, 1801. He served for three or four years on the West Indian and home stations, and in 1805 joined the famous ship " Victory," under Nelson, taking part in the battle of Trafalgar, of which he was one of the very few survivors. Subsequently he was engaged on the Mediterranean station, where, too, he saw some active service, participating in the reduction of the island of Capri, the evacuation of Scylla, and other minor affairs. He was engaged successively off Toulon, at the Plymouth station, and at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1830 he retired on half-pay, but was for several years employed for the Government in Egypt. The Admiral married, first, 1810, Caroline, daughter of Major Bowen, R.A., which lady died in 1864; and, secondly, Aug. 31, 1865, Anna Maria, widow of Colonel John Leland Mowatt.

THE HON. JUDGE LYNCH.

The Hon. David Lynch, Judge of the Landed Estates Court, Ireland, died, on the 18th inst., at his residence, 27, Merrion-square, S., Dublin. This learned lawyer and esteemed judge was born in 1813, the son of a Dublin merchant, Mr. David Lynch. He was called to the Irish bar in 1833, and went the Munster Circuit for many years. His practice was very considerable, and his legal opinion much sought after. In 1849 he was made Queen's Counsel, in 1857 was appointed Chairman of the county of Louth, in 1859 constituted a Judge in the Bankruptcy Court, and in 1867 succeeded Judge Longfield in the Landed Estates Court. He married, 1841, Margaret, fourth daughter of Edward Kennedy, Esq., of Bankis House, in the county of Tipperary, and leaves a large family.

CHANCELLOR MASSINGBERD.

We have to record the death of Chancellor Massingberd, one of the most learned and orthodox of the clergy of the Church of England. He had been for some time very ill, and on his last appearance in Convocation, of which he was so distinguished a member, his evident infirmity caused great anxiety to his friends. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and took a second class In Lit. Hum. in 1822. He took his

M.A. degree in the following year, and was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Oxford in 1824, and priest by the Bishop of Lincoln in 1825. He had been rector of South Ormsby, Lincolnshire, a family living, throughout his life, and having been a prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral for many years, became a chancellor and canon in 1862. By his influence great improvements were made in the services of Lincoln Cathedral, but he will be re

membered chiefly, and his loss will be felt most widely, in the Church at large. No man's judgment (says the Standard) was held in higher esteem. At once orthodox and prudent, firm in the maintenance of what he believed to be the truth, and yet conciliatory to those who differed from him, the late chancellor will be mourned by many who, while not sympathizing with all his (to them) old-fashioned opinions, yet held in the highest regard his genuine piety, unaffected simplicity, and honesty of purpose. The late chancellor took a warm interest from the first in the revival of Convocation, as to which he has published several pamphlets, and was an active member of the Eastern Church Association. The last important question in which the deceased took part was the opposition to Dr. Temple's consecration. He was a member of Mr. Gathorne Hardy's Oxford committee, was an old-fashioned Tory as well as Churchman. Indeed, during the late Administration his name was more than once mentioned for a bishopric.

DEAN RAMSAY.

The Very Rev. Dean Ramsay, of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, died at his residence in Ainslie-place, Edinburgh, on December 27, in the eightieth year of his age. The Dean was the fourth son of the late Sir Alexander Ramsay, of Balmain. He received his education at Harlsley, Yorkshire, at the Grammar School, and St. John's College, Cambridge. He came to Edinburgh in 1824, and in 1830 he succeeded to the incumbency of St. John's, Edinburgh, on the death of Bishop Sandford. He was appointed dean in 1831. He was offered, but declined, in 1835 the bishopric of Fredericton; also, in 1848, the see of Glasgow, and in 1863 that of Edinburgh. He was well known as the author of "Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character," of which twenty-one editions have been published.

MR. A. SMITH.

The death is recorded at River Bank, Putney, on December 26, of Mr. Archibald Smith, LL.D., F.R.S., of Lincoln's Inn, barrister-at-law, and of Jordan Hill, Lanarkshire. Mr. Smith was born in 1814. After studying at Glasgow University, he went to Cambridge in 1832. In 1836 he was senior wrangler and first Smith's prizeman, and was soon after elected a Fellow of his college. The second

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wrangler of this year was Bishop Colenso. Mr. Smith was an unsuccessful candidate for the chair of Astronomy at Glasgow, and after declining an offer of employment at the Greenwich Observatory, he was called in 1839 to the Chancery Bar, and from that date forward he was mainly occupied with professional business. devoted his leisure, however, to mathematical studies, and his contributions to science were of the highest practical value. Upon the recommendation of a joint committee of the Royal Society, he was employed by the Government to execute a magnetic survey of the Antarctic regions. In connexion with these inquiries he made a series of researches relative to compass deviations, which were published in 1862, under the title of the "Admiralty Manual for the Deviation of the Compass," which was republished and translated into various languages. As a recognition of his scientific labours, Mr. Smith received from the Royal Society one of its Royal medals, and from the Emperor of Russia a compass set with diamonds. Her Majesty's Government still more recently requested his acceptance of a gift of 20007., not as a reward, but as a mark of their appreciation of the value of his researches and of the influence they were exercising on the maritime interests of England and the world at large. Mr. Smith, who, besides his scientific acquirements, was an eminent Real Property lawyer, stood as the Liberal candidate for the representation of the University of Glasgow, but was not successful. In 1853 he married the daughter of Vice-Chancellor Sir James Park, who survives him. He leaves a family of six sons and two daughters.

MR. J. STARTIN, F.R.C.S.

Mr. James Startin, student of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, died on December 24, after a short but very severe illness. Mr. Startin was well known as a most successful dermatologist, and, if not the founder, was for many years the senior surgeon to the Hospital for Diseases of the Skin, Blackfriars. He was the author of several valuable contributions to dermatology, a speciality to which so much attention has been directed by Professor Erasmus Wilson (the founder of the Dermatological Chair at the Royal College of Surgeons), Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, Mr. Milton, Dr. Tilbury Fox, &c. Mr. Startin, who was a member of several learned societies both at home and abroad, was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons on February 15, 1828, and a Fellow on July 6, 1852.