The Scottish Naturalist. 199 



OBITUARY. 



1 



ALLEN THOMSON, M.D., F.R.S. 



N Professor Allen Thomson Scotland has lost another of a 

 generation, fast passing from our midst, that have made their 

 names "household words " in science. 



His father was Professor of Military Surgery and of Pathology in 

 the University of Edinburgh, and he was himself born in that city 

 on April 2nd, 1809. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, 

 and graduated there as M.D. at the age of 21, and became 

 F.R.C.S.E. in the following year. Very soon thereafter he com- 

 menced to lecture on anatomy in the extra-mural school. Among 

 his contemporaries were several men who afterwards became 

 leaders in the biological sciences. Of these Dr. W. Carpenter, 

 the well-known physiologist, alone is still alive. 



In 1839 Dr. Thomson was appointed Professor of Anatomy in 

 the University of Marischal College, at that period distinct from, 

 and a rival of King's College and University. In 1841 he re- 

 ceived the appointment to the Chair of Physiology in Edinburgh, 

 and in 1848 he obtained the Chair of Anatomy in Glasgow 

 University. This position he held till 1877, when he resigned 

 the duties, and soon took up his residence in London. About 

 the beginning of the present year he found it necessary to submit 

 to an operation on his right eye ; but in a short time his left eye 

 became affected, and for some time the power of vision was almost 

 lost, and he suffered greatly. At last, symptoms appeared indi- 

 cating brain disease, and on March 21st he died in London. 



His name will be chiefly associated in science with embryology, 

 in which he occupied a foremost place in this country. He is 

 regarded, we believe, by physiologists as having contributed to the 

 advance of science, rather by the clearness and thoroughness of 

 his criticisms of the work of others, and by the accuracy that he 

 thus introduced into the study of embryological and other physio- 

 logical studies, than by great original discoveries. His merits 

 were willingly recognised by his scientific brethren, and he was a 

 fellow of the leading societies; and in 1877 was President of the 

 British Association during its meeting in Plymouth. 



But besides his scientific eminence he was distinguished for the 

 able part he took in public affairs, and for his influence with the 

 community of Glasgow, gained by the part taken by him in more 

 than one great public undertaking. To his labours in connection 

 with the erection of the new buildings of Glasgow University, the 

 success of the undertaking was in no small measure due. He 

 also was an active supporter of the erection of the Western 

 Infirmary in Glasgow. 



Of his disposition and character it does not fall to us to speak, 

 but they were such as to win for him the respect and esteem of 

 his colleagues, pupils, and numerous friends. 



