Notices of the Life of Projessor Wilson, 183 



His recovery from his severe illness was tedious, and lie was 

 rendered unfit for public duty for some time. His father died very 

 suddenly in April 1843, and this added not a little to his sufferings. 



The commencement of Dr. Wilson's career as a lecturer was 

 thus also that of his ill health. His weak body seemed often to 

 be sinking into the dust, while his noble spirit ignored its fetters, 

 and seemed to rise above the feebleness of the flesh. For fifteen 

 years he continued to teach as a private lecturer, and he acquired 

 eminence and celebrity. In 1844 he was appointed by the Direc- 

 tors of the School of Arts their lecturer on chemistry ; and in the 

 same year, with the sanction of the Highland and Agricultural 

 Society, he became lecturer in the Veterinary College of Edin- 

 burgh. Between 1844 and 1852 he continued to deliver regularly 

 nine lectures on chemistry every week during the six winter 

 months, and at a later period of his history he even delivered 

 thirteen. 



Dr. Wilson had a peculiar power of making science- popular, 

 and describing intricate subjects in such a way as to make them 

 plain to a common audience. His inventive powers in illustrating 

 his lectures were remarkable. His graceful diction and aesthetic 

 taste, combined with his play of fancy and of genial wit, gave 

 peculiar attractions to hisprelections, and crowded audiences hung 

 on his lips whenever he appeared in public. In the Academic 

 Hall, the Philosophical Institution, the learned society, and in the 

 miserable lecture-room in the Cowgate or the Canongate, he was 

 equally at home and equally successful. 



The attention which he devoted to economical science, and to 

 the applications of chemistry, pointed him out as the man best 

 qualified to occupy the situation of Director of the Industrial 

 Museum of Scotland. In the autumn of the same year he was 

 chosen by the Crown to fill the newly-insLituted chair of Techno- 

 logy in the University of Edinburgh. 



The duties of this unendowed chair he fulfilled with the greatest 

 ability and success. Although the class was not demanded for 

 any academic honours, and was not included in any curriculum of 

 study (except that of the Highland Society), still the talents of 

 the Professor secured a large attendance. At the time of his 

 death (although the entrance was not completed) the number of 

 pupils was eighty-four, embracing students from all the Faculties 

 and many amateurs. Nothing could more plainly indicate the 



