184
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
addition to the members of the two Clubs, about two hundred invitations had been
sent out by the Mayor and Mayoress.
The Mayor having taken the chair, Professor Silvanus P. Thompson, D. Sr,
(Principal of the City and Guilds Technical College) delivered a lecture on "The
Early Magnetic Experiments of Gilberd of Colchester." The lecture (which was
listened to with deep attention and frequently applauded) was illustrated by
numerous experiments shown on the screen by the lime-light, and by a complete
set of Gilberd's books in all the editions.
[We hope to give Professor Thompson's lecture in full in a future number of
the Essex Naturalist.]
The Mayor, in proposing a cordial vote of thanks to Prof. Thompson for his
interesting and admirable lecture, said he ventured to state that none of them
who had been privileged to hear it would ever regard Colchester in precisely the
same light as they did before. They must feel that the soil of the town had been
consecrated by being the birthplace and the burial-place of such a worthy. If
residents in Essex were proud of Gilberd as an Essex man, what must they feel, as
residents in this ancient town, where he was actually bom ?
Mr. Paxman said he had very great pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks.
They all knew that Professor Thompson was a very busy man,!and therefore they were
the more grateful to him for his kindness in coming down and giving them such
an able lecture. He could only hope that the establishment of the Gilbert Club
might be a means to an end, and as Colchester people they should be very
pleased if the Club took up the providing of a permanent memorial, of Gilberd in
Colchester, and perhaps a scholarship at one of their universities—the one to
which their friend, Professor Thompson, was attached. He thought they might do
something of this sort, and he threw out the hint hoping that the Club might be
able to do something in this direction.
Professor Thompson briefly acknowledged the vote of thanks, and said he
wished the privilege of giving them some account of Gilberd and his works had
devolved upon his friend, Professor Hughes, who was with them that evening and
who, as an electrician, was the successor to the mantle of the great Doctor.
Professor Meldola said as Mr. Fitch, the President of the Essex Field Club,
had been obliged to leave, as the President of the Gilbert Club (Sir William
Thomson) lived in Scotland, and had not been able to join them to-day, though
he had commissioned him to say that he was with them in spirit; and as one of
their Vice-Presidents, Lord Rayleigh, could not remain for the evening gathering
which his lordship much regretted ; he (the speaker) had been asked to propose,
on behalf of the two Clubs, a vote of thanks to all those who had contributed to the
success of the day's programme. First, to the Mayor and Mayoress for the kind-
ness which they had shown in receiving the Societies in such a handsome manner—
also to their friend Mr. Laver, who had been kind enough to act as their personal
conductor over a good deal of the ground they had gone—and also last, but by no
means least, to their fellow-townsman, Mr. Shenstone, for the great amount of
trouble he had taken in organising the details of the gathering, which, in spite of
the extremely unfavourable meteorological conditions, they all admitted had been
a very successful one.
The Mayor said that, speaking for himself and the Mayoress, they felt much
honoured by the attendance of the members of the two Societies and other
friends, and if they had in any way contributed to the success of the evening, they
were amply repaid, and were greatly honoured by the kind acknowledgment that
had been made.