XXX MEMOIR OF SIR J. G. DALYELL. 



tlicy have been fashioned. The two principal specimens exhibited by Mr Dalyell were a 

 hollow brazen and an ivory vase, of a circular furni, and several inches in height, each pro- 

 vided with a cover. The brazen vase was formed from a coarse cast giving the general out- 

 line, and the ivory one from a solid piece of tusk. Instead of the parallel lines around the 

 object which are usually produced by turning, these vases present a multitude of curves, 

 angles, facets, and other figures, which, in the brass specimen, reflect the light in a beautiful 

 manner; while the ivory one not onh' displays similar various carving, but is relieved by a 

 great deal of open work, which, at a little distance, gives the whole the airy appearance of a 

 piece of lace. Along with the specimens, Mr Dalyell exhibited some of his tools, and ex- 

 plained that the work is produced by combinations of the ro<e engine, eccentric cJiuck; and 

 drilling apparatus, tlie tools being brought to bear upon some of the objects in much the same 

 manner as those of the seal-engraver. He also showed that, instead of the ordinary appli- 

 cation of turning to small and trifling articles, it was adapted for work of considerable mag- 

 nitude, though, before attempting anything of the kind, the artist would require to undergo a 

 long probation in plain turning, so as to become acquainted with the nature of the materials, 

 the mode of working them into shape, and of bringing wood, ivory, and metal, to the highest 



finish The machine and its complicated apparatus, whereon the work submitted to 



the society had been executed, was made expressly for the owner by an excellent artist, 

 Mr Andrew Paterson, also our fellow-citizen, at the cost of about two hundred pounds." 



In 183G we find Sir John corresponding with another devotee of na- 

 tural history, Dr Cevan, in reference chiefly to a work about to be published 

 by that gentleman. In reference to Huber, whose Treatise on Bees he 

 had translated some time previously, he says : — 



^^ Apropos of Huber. I am indeed the translator of his work, of which I endeavoured to 

 give the sense in as far as possible, to comprize it in the fewest words — accounting brevity 

 one intrinsic quality of literature, of which you have yourself afforded a good example. 



" As to the precise extent of this celebrated naturalist's misfortune, I am induced now to 

 conclude that the privation of sight was absolute. I have a brief manuscript memoir regard- 

 in" him, written in French by one of his nearest relatives, purposely for my information. 

 Though neither copious nor explicit, I can collect that, in bis youth, he was devoted to ma- 

 thematical pursuits, and in his endeavours to gain a certain prize, when at the age of nine- 

 teen, he laboured incessantly, not only during the day, but sacrificed his nocturnal repose — ■ 

 even continuing his studies by moonshine, when deprived of light by his father to repress 

 such exertions. Over heated and exhausted by fatigue, he had to pass a snowy plain to 

 reach his preceptor, when his sight was impaired by the dazzling lightness. He had not 

 abandoned such pursuits even late in life, when my relation saw him, for " his wife was wont 

 to embroider the plates of Lcgendre and other celebrated mathematicians in relief on cards 

 for his use." " It is said also that he constantly refused the urgent solicitation of A/. Manneir, 



