PROCEEDINGS 



PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



FIFTY-FIFTH SESSION. 



November 5, 1856. 



The Fifty-fifth Session of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow was 

 opened this evening, — Dr. Allen Thomson, President, in the Chair. 



The President delivered an opening addi-ess, which he commenced 

 with the following tribute to the memory of Mr. William Gourlie, one 

 of the Society's Vice-Presidents, whose death occurred since the last 

 meeting of the Society : — 



" It is incumbent upon me to notice with the feelings it has produced 

 in my own mind, and which I know to be shared by all the members 

 of the Society, the melancholy loss which we have sustained since we 

 last met, by the death of one of our Vice-Presidents. Mr. William 

 Gourlie died in the latter part of June last, from the effects of a very 

 painful and dreadful disease — a tumour of the upper jaw. He bore his 

 sufferings, and met death with the calm fortitude and resignation which 

 might have been expected in one who throughout life had shown him- 

 self so estimable a man, and so true a Christian. The circumstances of 

 liis being removed, in the prime of life, from domestic happiness and 

 from social usefulness, are too melancholy to admit of my alluding to 

 them further in this place. 



" In Mr. GourUe, Glasgow has lost one of its most upright and useful 

 citizens, this Society has been deprived of one of its most valuable 

 members, and many of us lament the departure of one of the kindest 

 and worthiest of our friends. 



" Mr. GourUe entered the Philosophical Society in 1841, and took an 

 active part, during the whole of his membership, in promoting its wel- 

 fare. Deeply interested in many branches of science, and weU versed 

 in some, he was always ready to further any project calculated to 

 advance its progress, and most zealous and judicious in the manage- 



