Two Presidents of the Royal Society have died on successive
-days of this week,—Sir Edward Sabine, the aged Arctic explorer, and an eminent student of the phenomena of magnetism, on Tuesday ; and Mr. William Spottiswoode, Pre- sident of the Royal Society at the time of his death, in the full vigour of middle life, on Wednesday. Mr. Spottiswoode was best known as a great mathematician, and especially for his speculations on the possibility that to higher apprehensions than ours space may have more than three dimensions, indeed, any number of dimensions corresponding to the degrees of equa- tions. Moreover, Mr. Spottiswoode had worked with great success at the phenomena of the polarisation of light, on which we believe that he had established new and original theories of his own. He was conspicuous, too, as an Oriental scholar, and as a patron of learning, a department in which his generous nature and large means enabled him to effect much. His modesty and gentleness were, at least, as remarkable as his abilities, and there are few -circles, whether in Science, Art, or Learning, in which his presence will not be long and grievously missed. He died of typhoid fever, contracted, we believe, in Rome.
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