d
Handicap, but a week later he records in his diary that he was "knocked
out."

Scientific Committees.

George served for many years on the Solar Physics Committee and on the
Meteorological Council. With regard to the latter, Sir Napier Shaw has
at my request given me his impressions: {178}

It was in February 1885, upon the retirement of Warren De la Rue,
that your brother George, by appointment of the Royal Society, joined
the governing body of the Meteorological Office, at that time the
Meteorological Council. He remained a member until the end of the
Council in 1905, and thereafter, until his death, he was one of the
two nominees of the Royal Society upon the Meteorological Committee,
the new body which was appointed by the Treasury to take over the
control of the administration of the Office. . . .

The Commissioners, collectively known as the Meteorological Council,
were a remarkably distinguished body of Fellows of the Royal Society,
and when Darwin took the place of De la Rue, the members were men
subsequently famous, as Sir Richard Strachey, Sir William Wharton,
Sir George Stokes, Sir Francis Galton, Sir George Darwin, with E. J.
Stone, a former Astronomer Royal for the Cape. . . .

I do not think that Darwin addressed himself spontaneously to
meteorological problems, but he was always ready to help. He was
very regular in his attendance at Council, and the minutes show that
after Stokes retired, all questions involving physical measurement or
mathematical reasoning were referred to him. There is a short and
very characteristic report from him on the work of the harmonic
analyser, and a considerable number upon researches by Mr. Dines or
Sir G. Stokes on anemometers. It is hardly possible to exaggerate
his aptitude for work of that kind. He could take a real interest in
things that were not his own. He was full of sympathy and
appreciation for efforts of all kinds, especially those of young men,
and at the same time, using his wide experience, he was perfectly
frank and fearless not only in his judgment but also in the
expression of it. He gave one the impression of just protecting
himself from boredom by habitual loyalty and a finely tempered sense
of duty. My earliest recollection of him on the Council is the
thrilling production of a new version of the Annual Report