THE basic steel process was introduced into France in 1882, and to mark the fiftieth anniversary, a special meeting of the Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France was held in Paris on December 5, the President of the Republic, M. A. Lebrun, honouring the proceedings by presiding. Four addresses were given dealing with the history of the basic process, and another on the iron ore district of Lorraine. The Iron and Steel Institute was represented by the president, Sir Charles Wright, Mr. F. W. Harbord and Mr. G. C. Lloyd, who prior to the official proceedings were received in private audience at the Palais de L'Elysée by the President of the Republic. The basic steel process which made possible the utilisation of huge deposits of hitherto practically useless phosphoric ores, was the invention of Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (1850–85) who worked at the subject while a clerk in a London police court. His first paper, written in collaboration with his cousin Percy Carlyle Gilchrist, “On the Elimination of Phosphorus in the Bessemer Converter” was to have been read at the Paris meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1879, but for want of time had to be omitted. Thomas, however, was brought into contact with E. W. Richards and then J. E. Stead, and a successful demonstration of the process was made on April 4,1879, at the Cleveland Steel Works. Thomas unfortunately did not live long to enjoy his triumph, for after travelling in search of health, he died in Paris on February 1, 1885, and was buried in the Passy cemetery.