
2 
IN MEMORIAM—PROFESSOR THOMAS KING. 7 
and instruction in laboratory work at South Kensington. In the 
same year he obtained the certificate of the Department of Science 
and Art as a teacher of Botany. 
In 1889 he was elected Professor of Botany in Anderson’s 
College Medical School, and in the following year was appointed 
Professor of that science in the Glasgow Veterinary College. 
Besides the various lectureships mentioned, which he continued 
to hold at the time of his death, he had various engagements in 
schools and educational institutions throughout the city and its 
suburbs. 
As a teacher, his lectures were always fresh and interesting, 
and distinguished by simplicity and clearness of language, as well 
as by an earnestness of purpose which showed that his work was 
indeed a labour of love. To listen to him was to feel that he was 
not merely an accomplished student, but a true lover of nature 
whose heart responded to all that was pure and beautiful in the 
world around him. Whether in the class-room or at the excur- 
sions which he frequently made with his students, his aim was 
not only to impart information but to awaken a real interest in 
those objects and pursuits which were the joy of his own life. 
Many of his students have acquired honourable distinction; while 
not a few members of our own Society, and others who take a 
prominent place amongst us as naturalists, owe much of their 
enthusiasm to his teaching and influence. But his success as a 
teacher was also largely due to his personal character; to the 
gentleness and courtesy of his bearing, which never failed to 
inspire confidence and respect ; and to his kindly interest in his 
pupils, which led each of them to regard him as a friend. 
But his sympathies extended over a much wider range than the 
sphere of his professional labours. He derived much pleasure 
from friendly association with others of like tastes, and took an 
interest in the work of local scientific societies, of most of which 
he was an active and esteemed member and office-bearer. 
On 16th April, 1874, he was admitted a member of the 
Geological Society of Glasgow, while in 1878 he was elected a 
member of Council for three years, and was re-elected for a similar 
term in 1895. In 1877 and 1883, papers relating to the Geology 
of the desert region of Atacama, North Chile, were read by him 
to the Society. Although frequently at the meetings, he did not 
