10 Obituary Notices. [sess. li. 



Piobert the Bruce and the spider, he renewed his offer in 

 1877, and this year there was in the botanical class a young, 

 ardent, and intelligent student, whom the difficult nature of 

 the subject only stimulated to fresh energy ; he accepted 

 the task, successfully accomplished it, and gained the well- 

 merited prize, and I am sui'e that you will all feel deeply 

 interested, and rejoice when I inform you that the dis- 

 tinguished student of that year is the able and accomplished 

 botanist who so efficiently discharges the duties of assistant 

 Secretary to our Society ; I refer, of course, to Mr J. M. 

 Macfarlane. 



In 1878 a prize of two guineas was offered for the best 

 and approved essay on the subject wdiich, as we have seen, 

 had specially occupied his own attention, viz., " the Eelation 

 between Plants and Soils in influencing their Geographical 

 Distribution in Britain "; but though this prize was again 

 offered in 1879, in neither year was there any competitor. 



As might have been expected in the case of one so 

 generous and wortliy as Dr Gilchrist, there was discovered 

 from his letters that he had made offers of help to students 

 at college, and had given many and handsome gifts of 

 money. The lessons of his own student days had not been 

 lost on him, for Dido-like he could, and did, by his active 

 benevolence, say " Hand ignora mali miseris suocurrere 

 disco." 



He latterly took great delight in selecting from his 

 immense collection specimens of the different rocks and 

 fossils, and in presenting sets of them to schools and 

 mechanic institutions, and even sometimes to individual 

 children, that tlicy miglit be stimulated and aided in the 

 pursuit of natural science, from the study of which, in his 

 own case, the resulting delight was much intensified by his 

 tracing in tlie objects around him the wisdom, power, and 

 goodness of his heavenly Father. This feature in his 

 character, though always present, was strikingly displayed 

 when, on one occasion, a friend wh(j liad written a book 

 illustrating Christian truths by illustrations drawn from 

 Mineralogy, sent him a copy. In his letter of thanks in 

 reply, Dr Gilchrist expressed in no measured terms the 

 delight and happiness which he had experienced in its 

 perusal, and urged the author very earnestly to bring out 



