71 



more strictly preserved than it is at present. Mr Robison was 

 elected Secretary of the Physical Class in 1823 ; and upon the retire- 

 ment of Dr Brewster from the chief secretaryship in 1828, Mr Robi- 

 son succeeded him, and continued to hold that office till 1840, when 

 he resigned, contrary to the wishes of all those who had been most 

 nearly connected with him in the discharge of the duties of his office. 

 It may be safely affirmed, that, under the favouring circumstances 

 of affluence and leisure, seconded by congenial tastes and singular 

 habits of order, he conducted the alfairs of the Society with more 

 watchful and anxious superintendence than is often found in such 

 cases ; and during the course of years already mentioned, the care 

 and direction of our affairs might be said to be his chief business ; 

 for, unencumbered by any professional demands on his attention, he 

 passed successively from object to object of the many schemes, in- 

 ventions, and projects, which successively occupied his attention, but he 

 always attached himself to the concerns of our Society as his chief 

 and main occupation. Having been, even before my admission as a 

 Fellow, in frequent communication with Mr Robison, and almost 

 ever since, until his retirement, having acted as his co-operator and 

 junior Secretary, with the valuable co-operation of my senior, Dr 

 Christison, I have had innumerable opportunities (and I know 

 that Dr Christison will unite in the same statement) of observing 

 the unbounded pains which he took, publicly and privately, of fulfil- 

 ling what he considered to be his duty, and of maintaining, at any 

 sacrifice of trouble, the rights of the Society, and those of its 

 members. In particular, we owe to him, in conjunction with our 

 worthy President, Sir Thomas Brisbane, the endowment which 

 we receive from Government, and which places this Society upon a 

 surer footing of independence and respectability than any other cir- 

 cumstance connected with its affairs which has occurred for many 

 years. 



" Sir John Robison, as we must now call him (for he received the 

 honour of the Guelphic Order from King William IV. in 1837, 

 and of Knighthood from the present Queen in 1838), rarely contri- 

 buted to our scientific proceedings, and the circumstance is worthy 

 of remark : his only printed paper being one on Whitelaw's escape- 

 ment, and the time-keeper set up in our Hall.* This can only be 

 attributed to one cause, to a motive, in fact, highly honourable to 

 him. Sir John Robison never made any pretension to be considered 



* Edin. Trans., vol. xi., p. 345. This paper was read 7th Feb. 1831. 



