Notices of the Life of Professor Wilson, 179 



history, meclianics, astronomy, etc. Minutes of their proceedings 

 were kept by his brother Daniel. His mother presided over th^ 

 youthful assembly, and usually wound up the evening by giving a 

 verse from Proverbs. 



Wilson remained at the High School until he was fifteen. On 

 leaving it he selected Medicine as his object of study, and com- 

 menced by becoming an apprentice in the laboratory of the Royal 

 Infirmary, where he remained for four years. The suffering and 

 distress which he witnessed during this period, made an indelible 

 impression on his very sensitive nature, and had a saddening effect 

 on his mind. Many are the stories which might be told illustra- 

 tive of his sympathy with the patients, and his eager desire to- 

 relieve them. 



He entered the University of Edinburgh in 1834, passed as 

 surgeon in 1838, took his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1839, 

 and wrote a thesis " On the Certain Existence of Haloid Salts of 

 the Electro Negative Metals in Solution." After taking his degree, 

 chemistry became his favourite pursuit. He had studied the sub- 

 ject assiduously under Dr. Hope and Mr. Kenneth Kemp; and in 

 1836-37 he had been engaged for eighteen months as chemical 

 assistant in Dr. Christison's laboratory, which was at that time 

 the best school of analytical chemistry in the University. His 

 first lectures on chemistry were given to private audiences, in the 

 drawing-room of his father's house, in 1837. In a MS. journal 

 kept by hira, we find the following entries : — "September 20thj^ 

 1838" — " I meet with scarcely one lady in ten or fifty, who has 

 sufficiently cultivated her natural intellectual powers." . . . "This 

 winter shall see me do my utmost to suggest an improvement 

 among my own small circle." 



" May 1 839. Following out the proposal to amend the subjects 

 of ladies' conversation and study, I assembled some of them in 

 my father's house, and delivered a course of prelections on che- 

 mistry, especially the chemistry of nature. This was in the win- 

 ter of 1837-38, so that I was then not nineteen. The majority of 

 my audience were older than myself by a year or two. I was 

 greatly praised and encouraged, most kindly listened to, and 

 assisted in many ways, especially by J. M'G., a generous, unselfish, 

 happy fellow, without whose aid I should have come on very 

 poorly. This course, which began in October, was first interrupted 

 by the illness of my sister, and afterwards by the mournful indis- 



