Obituary : Professor Wallace. 537 



vention, excellent taste, and an intimate acquaintance with those parts 

 of analysis with which they are connected in its most improved state*. 



The perspicuity and methodical arrangement which distinguish 

 his writings were equally conspicuous in his academical prelections. 

 An intimate acquaintance with the history of scientific discovery, 

 and the various applications of mathematical science, joined with a 

 thorough knowledge of the particular subject under consideration, 

 a retentive memory, and a ready invention, rendered his lectures 

 eminently instructive. They were delivered without the slightest 

 attempt at ornament or effect ; but they seldom failed to place the 

 subject before the student in a strong, clear, and full light, and were 

 animated with a genuine zeal for the progress of his pupils and the 

 advancement of his science. His Chair had been raised to a high 

 degree of celebrity by a long line of illustrious predecessors, and it 

 sustained, while occupied by him, no diminution either of efficiency 

 or reputation. 



Professor Wallace was not more distinguished by his mental en- 

 dowments than for his moral virtues and private worth. In every 

 relation of life his conduct was exemplary. In his family and do- 

 mestic circle he was greatly beloved. In his general intercourse 

 with the world he was upright, sincere, and independent. In society, 

 his habitual cheerfulness and good humour, amiable manners, bene- 

 volent disposition, and a never-failing fund of anecdote, rendered 

 him a delightful companion and a universal favourite. Generous and 

 liberal in all his sentiments, he entertained no envy of the discoveries 

 of his contemporaries, no jealousy of the reputation of younger 

 men ; but was ready at all times to applaud and encourage merit, 

 wherever, and in whatever shape, it made its appearance. For such 

 of his pupils as manifested any remarkable capacity or application 

 he entertained an esteem almost amounting to affection ; and he was 

 always ready to use his influence, which was considerable, in order 

 to forward their views in life or render them any service. In every 

 measure affecting the public good, or the scientific renown of his 

 country, he took a warm interest. He was the means of procuring 

 a monument to be erected in Edinburgh to Napier, the celebrated 

 inventor of logarithms ; and the last occupation of his life was to 

 investigate the administration of some of the public charities of the 

 city. 



Mr. Wallace was one of the original non-resident Fellows of this 

 Society. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; 

 a Corresponding Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers ; an 

 Honorary Member of the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; and a 

 few weeks before his death he was elected an Honorary Member of 

 the Royal Irish Academy. After an illness which had for several 



[* We may now state, as an addition to the above view of the works of 

 Professor Wallace, that he was the author of the two papers on the ana- 

 lytical investigation of a formula for the relative importance of the 

 Boroughs, in relation to the arrangements of the Reform Bill, signed 

 G. V., which appeared in Phil. Mag. Second Series, vol. xi. p. 218, and Third 

 Series, vol. i. p. 26. — Edit. Phil. Mag.] 



