who looked to things more than to opinions; or that he 

 should have turned his attention to nriedicine. as a study 

 more congenial to his peculiar taste. What ardour he 

 exhibited, or what progress he made during the years spent 

 in attending these classes, cannot now be ascertained ; but it 

 is probable that he did not make any considerable acquisi- 

 tions in science, in an University which at that time afforded 

 few facilities and no stimulants to the student of nature. 

 To a much later period, Glasgow was almost exclusively a 

 school for logic and metaphysics; and those who are now- 

 enabled, in an attendance there, to benefit by the instructions 

 of some of the first teachers of natural science that this age 

 can boast, will hardly conceive the difficulties under which 

 the student laboured, who, a few years ago, might have 

 finished his curriculum without a master to inform him even 

 of the authors whom it was necessary for him to consult. 



How detrimental this was to the progress of general 

 knowledge cannot be estimated ; but though Mr. Carmichael 

 went to Edinburgh to finish his studies, there is reason to 

 believe that he deeply felt the disadvantage of not being 

 earlier instructed in the first principles of natural science. 

 Several years afterwards he writes, — " The plan adopted by 

 several continental nations, particularly the French and the 

 Swedish, of making natural history a branch of education in 

 the public schools, possesses many advantages over the old 

 Gothic system to which we still cling so pertinaciously on 

 the English side of the channel. To those young men who 

 are destined to pass a great portion of their lives in regions 

 far removed from their native land, the study of natural 

 history affords intervals of pleasing recreation from the 

 fatigues of professional duty. This study, aided by a know- 

 ledge of a few of the modern languages, is the surest passport 

 to the best society. It occupies those idle hours which would 

 otherwise lie heavy on the hands of the young, or incite, per- 

 haps, to dangerous irregularities. It affords exercise to the 

 mind, and frequently adds to the sum of human knowledge. It 

 has, also, over every other study, this peculiar advantage, 

 that whithersoever fortune may direct our footsteps, materials 



