320 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



care with which his words were chosen made liis lectures models as a 

 means of instruction. The skilfulness of his method and the judg- 

 ment shown in selecting his material rendered his practical classes 

 equally perfect as a means of education. As the leader of a field- 

 excursion Trail can have had few equals and certainly no superior. 

 At the outset of his teaching career the resources of his department, 

 chiefly owing to lack of accommodation, left much to be desired. 

 With untiring energ}^ he set to w^ork to remedy defects, and he has 

 left for his successor a botanical department fully equipped with an 

 adequate teaching museum, good laboratories, and an excellent 

 botanical garden. 



On his return from Brazil in 1875 Tmil was elected a Fellow of 

 the Linnean Society-. In 1879 he obtained the degree of M.D. in his 

 own University. In 1886 he became president, on its foundation, of 

 the Aberdeen Working Men's Natural History Societ}'-, a body in 

 whose doings and welfare he took the keenest interest, presiding over 

 its meetings and often leading its excursions. In 1898 he was elected 

 a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1910 he presided over the botanical 

 section of the British Association at its eightieth meeting. 



The capacity for business displayed in the organisation of his owm 

 department led to his help being much in demand in connection wdth 

 University affairs. He made himself an efficient officer of the Uni- 

 versity battery, which owed its existence very largely to his efforts. 

 When the territorial organisation displaced the volunteer system he 

 became an invaluable member of the officers' training corps committee. 

 From 1891 onwards he served as cumtorof the University libmryand 

 chairman of the library committee, while from 1892 onwards he 

 served as dean of the newly created faculty of science. He played a 

 prominent part in the establishment of a lectureship on forestry, and 

 in the development of an agricultuml department. Authorities 

 external to the University were equally eager to secure his aid, and 

 where the object was the advancement of education, more especially 

 scientific education, this aid was readih' given. This involved accept- 

 ance of the governorship of various educational trusts and the chair- 

 manship of more than one education committee. 



To the furtherance of objects in which Trail was interested he 

 devoted means as well as time. In memory of his mother he endowed 

 a fund intended to benefit students in any faculty of the University 

 who may have given proof of ability in the study of natural science. 

 After having served as curator of the library for a quarter of a century, 

 he established another fund whose income is available, ' in supplement 

 of ' grants from University revenues, for the addition to the library 

 of works relating to natuml science. In the Linnean Society, whose 

 welfare and renown he always had much at heart, he founded an 

 * award and medal ' in recognition of special research. 



These recorded acts of generosity, however, represent but a small 

 portion of Trail's thoughtful and unobtrusive benevolence, just as his 

 published notes and papers, numerous and important though they be, 

 represent but an infinitesimal part of the vast store of knowledge 

 acquired by him as the result of exact and patient observation and 

 investitifation. The width of rancre of his information was as astonish- 



