Obituary : Professor Wallace. 535 



ries to be entirely new, but he discovered afterwards that some of 

 them had been previously given by Euler. 



Mr. Wallace's services at the Military College were held in 

 great estimation by the superior officers, who frequently availed 

 themselves of his practical sagacity in the adoption of regulations 

 having respect not only to the course of instruction, but the general 

 management of the establishment. One of the results of this defe- 

 rence to his recommendations (more particularly interesting to the 

 Society), is the small observatory attached to the College, for the in- 

 struction of the officers of the senior department in practical astro- 

 nomy. The plan of the building was originally furnished by Dr. 

 Robertson of Oxford ; but the superintendence and arrangement of 

 all the details of construction were confided to Mr. Wallace, who 

 visited most of the observatories in the neighbourhood of London, 

 for the purpose of acquiring hints and information . A transit-instru- 

 ment, an astronomical circle by Ramsden, a reflecting circle, and a 

 clock by Hardy, were procured, and some other instruments were 

 ordered, but countermanded from an apprehension of opposition to 

 the estimates in the House of Commons. Although an observatory 

 of this kind cannot be expected to produce results of any direct ad- 

 vantage to astronomy in the present state of the science, it must still 

 be regarded as no unimportant appendage to a national establish- 

 ment for the instruction of officers for the public service. 



In 1819a vacancy occurred in the Mathematical Chair of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, through the death of Professor Playfair, and 

 the appointment of Mr. Leslie to succeed him in that of Natural 

 Philosophy, and Mr. Wallace resolved on presenting himself as a 

 candidate. The patronage belongs to the magistrates of the city, 

 who, having in general no pretensions to be capable of estimating 

 degrees of merit in abstract science, necessarily form their opinions 

 from the testimony of others, or notions of general fitness, and are 

 liable to be acted upon by influences of various kinds. In the pre- 

 sent case a very keen contest took place ; for another competitor (a 

 man of general talent and great respectability, though unknown as 

 a mathematician) was strenuously supported by a strong political 

 party. The struggle terminated, however, in his election by a large 

 majority of the voters. This was the crowning object of his ambi- 

 tion. Ever since his appointment to the Perth Academy, he had 

 fixed his regards on a professorship in a Scottish university as the 

 goal of all his exertions ; but his elevation to the Chair of the Gre- 

 gorys, of Maclaurin, Matthew Stewart, and Playfair, probably did 

 not enter at that period into his most sanguine anticipations. 



Mr. Wallace had reached the age of fifty-one when he was ap- 

 pointed to the mathematical professorship in Edinburgh ; but he still 

 retained both mentally and bodily all the energy and activity of his 

 younger years. He held the office till 1838, when he resigned on 

 account of ill-health, having been unable to perform his duties in 

 person during the three previous sessions. Upon his resignation 

 the honorary title of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by the 

 University, and at the same time he received a pension from Govern- 



