1854.] Linnean Society. 307 



that his father had actually yielded a reluctant consent to his going 

 to sea, when some friends interfered and prevailed upon him to re- 

 linquish his wishes and to become the apprentice of Mr. Cheyne, a sur- 

 geon in his native town. In 1792 and the following year he attended 

 the lectures of Dr. Walker, then Professor of Natural History in 

 Edinburgh, and a man deservedly respected for the extent of his 

 knowledge, the soundness of his views, and the benevolence of his 

 character. With him young Jameson soon became a favourite pupil, 

 and was shortly afterwards entrusted with the care of the Museum. 

 Occasionally too he accompanied theProfessor on dredging excursions 

 down the Frith of Forth, and his note-book shows that on these 

 trips they were often successful in obtaining zoological treasures. 

 During this period he commenced the study of Botany ; and gave 

 the first evidence of his mineralogical proficiency in an " Essay 

 on Gems," communicated to his friend Dr. Anderson's periodical 

 entitled 'The Bee.' In the year 1793 he paid his first visit to 

 London, where he was kindly received by Sir Joseph Banks, and 

 other leading naturalists. On his return to Leith he seems to have 

 altogether abandoned the practice of Medicine, although he still con- 

 tinued to study Anatomy under John Bell, and Comparative Anatomy 

 in conjunction with Charles (afterwards Sir Charles) Bell. He also 

 paid much attention to the study of Ornithology and Entomology ; 

 and became intimately acquainted with Dr. Rotheram, Dr. Black's 

 assistant, through whom he added to his chemical knowledge a large 

 amount of mineralogical information, and from whom he perhaps 

 acquired the intense desire to visit the mines of Germany, which he 

 was soon after enabled to gratify. His father, in the mean time, 

 entered fully into his views, assigned him a suitable room for a labo- 

 ratory, and supplied him with the necessary apparatus and with 

 assistants in conducting his experiments. 



In 1794 he resided for three months in the Shetland Islands, 

 zealously occupied in exploring their geology, mineralogy, zoology and 

 botany ; and in 1797 he visited the Isle of Arran with the same view. 

 The result of these tours was given in his first separate work, entitled 

 ' An Outline of the Mineralogy of the Shetland Islands and of the 

 Island of Arran, with Dissertations on Peat, Kelp, and Coal.' He 

 next, in company with Charles Bell, paid a visit to the Hebrides and 

 Western Islands in the summer of 1798; in 1799 he investigated 

 the Orkneys ; and in 1800 he again turned his steps to the Isle of 

 Arran. His ' Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles,' in 2 vols. 4to, records 

 the observations made during these several excursions. In 1800, 

 his long-projected visit to Freyberg was at last paid, and he remained 



