Dublin Natural History Society, and rapidly acquired a reputation for original research in his favourite science. As a result of long and patient investigations, in the course of which he made many journeys to distant parts of Ireland, he ‘acquired a knowledge of the minute freshwater organisms of Ireland unparalleled among British naturalists, and perhaps not surpassed for any other country’ (Proceedings of Royal Society, vol. lxii.) ‘It is, however, to his work among the protozoa that Archer will owe his ultimate place in science.’ His essay on ‘Chlamydomyxa labyrinthuloides, a new species and genus of Freshwater Sarcodic Organism,’ won him in 1876 his election as a fellow of the Royal Society, in whose catalogue as many as fifty-nine papers by Archer are enumerated. Prior to this he had become a member of the Royal Irish Academy, to whose ‘Proceedings’ he was a diligent contributor. From 1875 to 1880 he acted as secretary for foreign correspondence to the Academy, and in 1879 was awarded its Cunningham gold medal in recognition of his scientific attainments.
Archer’s extremely modest and retiring disposition was a constant bar to the enlargement of his reputation. A distrust of his abilities caused him to decline in 1872 the professorship of botany at the Royal College of Science for Ireland. In 1876, however, his friends procured his appointment as librarian to the Royal Dublin Society; and on the acquisition in 1877 of the society’s library by the state Archer became librarian of the National Library of Ireland. He had previously added to his income by acting as secretary to a small slate company in Munster. Into the discharge of the duties of his new office Archer threw himself with characteristic zeal, speedily acquiring a high reputation among librarians. During his tenure of this post the library was transferred in August 1890 to the handsome building opposite to the Irish National Museum, designed by Sir Thomas Deane [q. v. Suppl.], the internal arrangements of which were based entirely on Archer’s carefully considered recommendations. Archer resigned his post in 1895, and he died, unmarried, at his residence, 52 Lower Mount Street, Dublin, on 14 Aug. 1897.
Archer’s scientific skill, knowledge, and capacity were, according to the testimony of competent judges, out of all proportion to his public reputation. He was not only an indefatigable worker, but possessed in a marked degree that scientific imagination which is essential to the highest results in research. He was an excellent linguist, and acquired a knowledge of German, French, and the Scandinavian languages the better to pursue his favourite science.
Archer’s chief work as librarian was ‘his admirable dictionary catalogue of the National Library, and the adopting of the decimal notation and classification for shelf arrangement, a system . . . almost unknown when Archer first adhered to it’ (Report of National Library of Ireland for 1890). ‘Apart from the scientific enthusiasm which dominated his character, Archer had a singular charm of manner, a gentleness and refinement of disposition almost feminine. . . . There was no lack of robustness, however, about his scientific insight; but a quaint sense of humour would always parry a contentious criticism’ (Proceedings of Royal Society, vol. lxii.)
[Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. iv. 3rd ser. 1898; Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. lxii.; Notes from the Botanical School, Trinity College, Dublin, June 1898, by Prof. E. P. Wright, M.D.; The Irish Naturalist, vol. vi. Oct. 1897, with portrait; The Library, ix. 203, with portrait; Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Dublin; The Reports of the National Library, 1877–95; Proceedings of the Dublin Microscopical Society; private information.]
ARCHIBALD, Sir ADAMS GEORGE (1814–1892), Canadian statesman, the son of Samuel Archibald and Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Archibald, came of an old Scottish family which had settled in the north of Ireland, and thence migrated to Nova Scotia in 1761. His grandfather, James Archibald, had been judge of the court of common pleas for the county of Colchester in Nova Scotia. He was born at Truro, Nova Scotia, on 18 May 1814, and educated at Pictou College; thence he proceeded to Halifax and read for the law in the chambers of William Sutherland, afterwards recorder of Halifax. He was admitted an attorney of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia in 1838, and called to the bar of the latter colony in 1839, for some years devoting himself to the practice of his profession.
Archibald entered public life in 1851, when he was elected to the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia as member for Colchester, and during the years which followed he took an active part in promoting legislation. He was especially interested in measures for the management of goldfields, for dealing with free education, and for restricting the franchise to ratepayers. In 1855 he became Q.C., and in August 1856 he was appointed solicitor-general for the province. On 14 Feb. 1857 he went out of office with the ministry. Later in the same year he was sent to
