2-il^ Biographical Memoir of the late Dr Turner. 



to oneof the principal chairs in the seminary was highly compli- 

 mentary to him. The choice, however, was amply justified by 

 the celebrity he had gained as an author and experimentalist 

 abroad as well as at home, and by the lavish, yet well-deserved, 

 encomiums which he carried with him from all his friends in 

 Edinburgh. It need scarcely be added, that the Council's choice 

 was also amply justified by the event: every successive year 

 supplied them with fresh cause for rejoicing in the good fortune 

 which secured for them his services. 



Let us here pause for a moment to look back upon the main 

 features of his life down to this last incident in his career. Ar- 

 rived almost at man's estate with his education neglected or 

 mismanaged, and without giving any indication of what is 

 usually called original talent or genius, — we see him, by the 

 force of a well-regulated and self-directed mind, becoming a 

 diligent and eager student, and speedily acquiring a creditable 

 acquaintance with a profession of exceeding variety and extent 

 in its objects, — then undertaking the study of a science intricate 

 and profound in its doctrines, vast, comprehensive and minute 

 in its details, — one, too, of which he was till then all but utterly 

 ignorant, — and at length in the brief space of six years, over- 

 coming all its diflSculties, establishing a high reputation as an 

 original inquirer by numerous experimental researches, earning 

 the name of a popular teacher and esteemed author, and in fine, 

 attaining a lofty station in the scientific world as a chemical 

 philosopher, — a station second, I will venture to say, to that of 

 one individual only in these Islands. How cheering and in- 

 structive a lesson is this to the youthful aspirant : how pleasing 

 and impressive a picture for the contemplation of all ! 



I have thus brought down these biographical sketches to 

 about the middle of Dr Turner's scientific and public life. I 

 have trespassed too much already on your attention to be entitled 

 to detain you with the details of the remainder of it. Besides, 

 our separation at this period put an end to our constant inter- 

 course, and takes away my capability of doing full justice to 

 his future progress. Let me, then, conclude by simply com- 

 pleting the narrative of his writings, and then bringing before 



