All concluded happily, for both Lloyd and the
Archbishop expressed, and no doubt felt, the pre-eminent claims of
Hamilton, and both of them cordially accepted the office of a
Vice-President, to which, according to the constitution of the
Academy, it is the privilege of the incoming President to nominate.
In another chapter I have mentioned as a memorable episode in
astronomical history, that Sir J. Herschel went for a prolonged
sojourn to the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose of submitting the
southern skies to the same scrutiny with the great telescope that his
father had given to the northern skies. The occasion of Herschel's
return after the brilliant success of his enterprise, was celebrated
by a banquet. On June 15th, 1838, Hamilton was assigned the high
honour of proposing the health of Herschel. This banquet is
otherwise memorable in Hamilton's career as being one of the two
occasions in which he was in the company of his intimate friend De
Morgan.
In the year 1838 a scheme was adopted by the Royal Irish Academy for
the award of medals to the authors of papers which appeared to
possess exceptionally high merit. At the institution of the medal
two papers were named in competition for the prize. One was
Hamilton's "Memoir on Algebra, as the Science of Pure Time.
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