ness, and exceedingly friable. The soil barely coats the 

 rocks, which put forth their bald foreheads in every 

 portion of the best cultivated fields, giving to this fertile 

 island the appearance of a heap of stones, and rendering 

 the spade as necessary an implement of husbandry as the 

 plough. The plants found on it are not numerous, con- 

 sisting chiefly of a few Orchidea^ PrimulacecB, SaxifragcB, 

 Crucifercs, &c. ; and though the neighbouring mainland 

 presents a greater variety of soil and elevation, we cannot 

 believe that Mr. Carmichael would have made much progress 

 in the knowledge of classification, far less have acquired his 

 quick botanical eye, in a situation where he was excluded from 

 the benefits to be obtained from books and sympathy, and 

 where the list of native vegetables is by no means large. It 

 is probable that his attention was at this time turned rather 

 towards mineralogy, and that his sight was not indifferent to 

 the majesty and beauty of the hills which form the great glen 

 of Scotland, nor his mind inactive in speculating upon the 

 manner of their formation. It was indeed a station calculated 

 to arouse the slumbering spirit of the geologist into activity, 

 and more callous observers than he who is the subject of 

 this memoir might have their admiration excited by those 

 mountains which inclose the island of Lismore as in a mighty 

 amphitheatre, and which present so many and such varied 

 aspects. It is believed that his knowledge of mineralogy was 

 chiefly acquired at this time, while residing with his parents, 

 after his return from the university. 



In 1796, being appointed assistant-surgeon to the Argyle- 

 shire Fencibles, then stationed in Ireland, Mr. Carmichael 

 had an opportunity of extending his knowledge of the work- 

 ings of nature. Yet he has not left behind him anything 

 which enables us to trace what progress he there made in 

 science. When the advantages of scientific instruction are 

 wanting in youth, years of after labour become necessary for 

 the student, during which we may find him labouring assidu- 

 ously to compass the first elements of knowledge, and carefully 

 treading the paths which others have trodden before him, in 

 order to ascertain what has been already done, and what yet 



