Account of 

 Sir-Alci. Dick. 



60 HIS TORI' of the SO CI Err. 



moufly chofen Prefident of the College ; and as his fellow- 

 members were fully convinced of his zeal, as well as of his 

 abilities, they afterwards eleded him to that ofEce for feven 

 years fucceffively. It was their earnefl willi that he ftiould have 

 continued ftill longer as their head ; but this he pafitively de- 

 clined, as he thought that he fhould thus deprive other gentle- 

 men of a dignity, to which, from their merit, they were well 

 entitled. But after his refignation of the office of Prelident, 

 his attachment to the College, and his earnefl endeavours to 

 promote its intereft, continued unabated. He not only contri- 

 buted liberally towards the building of a hall for their accom- 

 modation, but ftrenuoufly exerted himfelf in promoting every 

 undertaking in which he thought that the honour or intereft 

 of the College was concerned. As a teftimony of the fenfe 

 which his fellow-members entertained of his fervices, a portrait 

 of him was, by their unanimous fufFrages, hung in their hall ; 

 a mark of diftindion which has never been beftowed, either 

 before or fince that time, upon any other member. 



But the College of Phyficians were not the only fet of men 

 who were benefited by his exertions. He was long diftinguifhed 

 as a zealous and adlive member of the Philofophical Society of 

 Edinburgh. And when they refolved to join their influence as 

 a body, in feconding an application to the Crown from the Uni- 

 verfity, for the eftablifliment of a new Society under Royal 

 patronage, and on a more extended plan, having for its objedl 

 the cultivation of every branch of fcience, erudition and 

 tafte, he had an adlive hand in procuring the eftablifhment 

 of this inftittition. And accordingly, when his Majefty was 

 gracioufly pleafed to grant a charter for incorporating the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh, the name of Sir Alexander Dick 

 ftands inrolled as one of the firft in the lift. For many years, 

 he difcharged the duties of a faithful and vigilant Manager of 

 the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. It was his conftant endea- 

 vour to render that eftablifliment at once fubfervient to the re- 

 lief 



