THE 



CANADIAN NATURALIST 



AND 



^uavtnly journal of ^iciinvce. 



THE REV. JAMES SOMERVILLE, FOUNDER OF 

 THE SOMERVILLE LECTURES.* 



By Key. Robsrt CaiMpbell, M.A., 



A formal memoir of Mr. Somerville was drawn up by his 

 life-long friend, Dr. Daniel Wilkie, Rector of the High School 

 of Quebec, in 1844, seven years after his death; while a shorter 

 sketch appeared in the " Montreal Transcript," of the 8th of 

 June, 1837, immediately after his decease, written by Mr. 

 Thomas Blackwood, a prominent member of the Scotch Church. 



Mr. Somerville came to Canada whon only 27 years of age. 

 and for thirty-four years he was minister of the Scotch Church 

 in St. Gabriel Street; although for the last fourteen years of 

 his life his connection with the Church was only nominal. 

 Havino- beei] furnished with two colleao:ues, Rev. Henrv 

 Esson, in 1819, and Rev. Edward Black, in 1823, he withdrew 

 from the active duties of the pastorate, on a retiring salary of 

 £150, together with the £50, at that time given by the Impe- 

 rial Government to ministers of the Scotch Church, in the Pro- 

 vince of Lower Canada. He was ordained and inducted into 

 office in 1803, by Dr. Sparks, of Quebec, and Mr, Bethune, of 



* The Rev. Mr. Somerville bequeathed to the Natural History 

 Society of Montreal the sum of j£lOOO to maintain an annual 

 course of Lectures in connection with the Society, to be known as 

 the Somerville Lectures. Rev. Robert Campbell, one of the Somer- 

 ville lecturers for the present year, discoursed on the life and bequests 

 of Mr. Somerville. We print this extract from his lecture, feeling 

 that a sketch ot Mr. Somerville's life should be placed on record in the 

 Journal of the Society, for which he did so much. 



Vol. X. cc 2 No. 8. 



