OhitVjaTy Notices. 



ObitMctry Notice of Dr James Gilchrist. Dumfries. By 

 Thomas A. G. Balfoue, M.D., F.E.S.E. 



It is with deep sorrow that I record the death of Dr 

 James Gilchrist, who, from his student days till the close 

 of his life on earth, was my sincere and attached friend. 

 He was admitted as a Non-Eesident Fellow of this Society 

 on December 10, 1857. His early life was one of struggles, 

 which, as in the case of so many others who have dis- 

 tinguished themselves in after life, contributed in no small 

 degree to foster those qualities of earnestness, perseverance, 

 and patient endurance which characterised his future career. 

 He was born at the village of Collin, in the parish of 

 Torthorwald, Dumfriesshire, on June 21, 1813, of parents 

 in humble life. His father was a working mason, of an 

 amiable and pious disposition, and much respected by his 

 neighbours. He died of consumption at the early age of 30. 

 His mother, who was the daughter of a master carpenter, 

 and on whom the burden of his training was thus early 

 thrown, was a woman of much energy and indeiDcndence of 

 character, and of high Christian principle ; she was a strict 

 disciplinarian, and her son again and again, in after life, 

 looked back with thankfulness on this, as well as on her 

 other excellent qualities, and cherished the warmest regard 

 for her memory. He proved through life a most dutiful 

 son, and had the inestimable satisfaction of being able to 

 administer many comforts to which in her earlier years 

 she had been a stranger. 



He attended the parisli school of Torthorwald, which was 

 about two miles distant from Carth\^'ood, to which the family 

 had removed after his father's death. This school was pre- 

 sided over by a Mr ] barton, who was a good teacher, and 

 who, as was the case in these admirable schools, sought to 

 imbue the minds of his scholars with religious as well as 

 secular knowledge. An interesting circumstance in con- 

 nection with his school days wliicli he remembered, was that 

 in winter each boy carried under his arm a long peat to 

 supply the fire in the school-room. There was nothing 

 special in his school life, unless it be that his holidays were 

 spent in working at the farm of a friend, so as to recruit his 



