He devoted ten years to the study of the mechanical principles of
muscular action, and published his _Animal Mechanism_, probably his
greatest work. He will long be remembered as the introducer of the
"long drop" as a method of capital execution. He might have been
placed in several of the categories which have been dealt with, but
that of geologist has been selected, since in the later part of his
most versatile career he was professor of geology in Trinity College,
Dublin.

Valentine Ball (b. Dublin 1843, d. 1894), F.R.S., a brother of Sir
Robert, joined the Geological Survey of India, and in that capacity
became an authority not only on geology but also on ornithology and
anthropology. His best known work is _Jungle-Life in India_. In later
life he was director of the National Museum, Dublin.

MEDICAL SCIENCE.

Very brief note can be taken of the many shining lights in Irish
medical science. Robert James Graves (1796-1853), F.R.S., after whom
is named "Graves's Disease", was one of the greatest of clinical
physicians. His _System of Clinical Medicine_ was a standard work and
was extolled by Trousseau, the greatest physician that France has
ever had, in the highest terms of appreciation.

William Stokes (1804-1878), Regius Professor of Medicine in Trinity
College, and the author of a _Theory and Practice of Medicine_, known
all over the civilized world, was equally celebrated.

To these must be added Sir Dominic Corrigan (1802-1880), the first
Catholic to occupy the position of President of the College of