42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



than One, the Creed of the Philosopher and the Hope of the Chris- 

 tian," is characteristic of his general tone of thought and argument, and 

 reminds us that he was originally destined for the Christian ministry, 

 and had been licensed to preach in the Church of Scotland. At the 

 University of Edinburgh, from which he received the honorary degree 

 of A. M. in 1800, he enjoyed the valuable instruction and friendship 

 of John Robison, John Playfair, and Dugald Stewart. In 1799, at 

 the instance of his intimate friend, afterwards Lord Brougham, he 

 studied Newton's investigations on the Inflection of Light, and re- 

 peated his experiments. But the discovery by Malus, in 1808, of the 

 Polarization of Light fired him with new ardor in the pursuit of phys- 

 ical optics, and determined his future career. In 1815, dui'ing Pro- 

 fessor Playfair's visit to the Continent, Brewster took his place in the 

 University as Lecturer upon Natural Philosophy. 



A literary and scientific career, so long, so laborious, so useful as 

 that of Brewster, deserved the gratitude of his contemporaries, and he 

 enjoyed it both at home and abroad. He received the degree of 

 LL. D. from the University of Aberdeen, that of D. C. L. from Ox- 

 ford, and that of A. M. from Cambridge. In 1808 he was chosen a 

 member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh ; and was its President 

 from 1864 to the time of his death. In 1815 he was elected a Fellow 

 of the Royal Society of London, and received from it the Copley 

 Medal for his paper on the Polarization of Light by Reflection. In 

 1818 he won the Rumford Medal by his Discoveries relating to the 

 Polarization of Light. In 1816 a prize was divided by the Institute 

 of France between Brewster and Seebeck for their researches on the 

 depolarizing structure of heated and compressed glass, 



In 1825, Brewster was made a Corresponding Member of the In- 

 stitute of France, and in 1849 he attained the high distinction of being 

 chosen to succeed Berzelius as one of the eight Associate Members of 

 the Academy of Sciences. He was called to preside at the twentieth 

 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 held at Edinburgh in 1850. With honor to himself, and advantage to 

 his country, he filled, in succession, the two highest literary positions in 

 Scotland, being first Principal of the old University of St. Andrews, 

 and afterwards, in 1859, Principal of the University of Edinburgh. 



Since his death, a pension of £ 200 a year has been granted by 

 the government to Lady Brewster, and soon a statue to the memory 

 of her husband will stand in the city of Edinburgh. 



