342 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. Lxxxni 



marking that he might have done better. No doubt, who- 

 ever wrote this epistle was little aware of the self-sacrifice 

 of Dr. Watson, and how he risked his life in trying to 

 carry out the instructions of his medical superiors. But 

 however unpleasant such a communication may have been 

 at the time, Dr. Watson used in later j^ears to consider it a 

 great joke and an evidence of the want of appreciation on 

 the part of some uninformed official at headquarters. 



Such censure as this, however, did not prevent his pro- 

 motion, and he became Deputy Surgeon-General a consider- 

 able time before his retiral from the Service. 



For further information refer to the Transactions of the 

 Edinburgh Field Naturalists' and Microscopical Society, 

 vol. vi, pt. V (1912): In Memoriam, William Watson, M.D., 

 I.M.S., by Mr. John Lindsay, pp. 447-452. 



Symington Grieve. 



Robert Chapman Davie. 



Indirectly the war has robbed the Botanical Society of 

 a member of its Council and a frequent contributor to its 

 meetings in the person of Dr. R. C. Davie, Captain and 

 Senior Chemist in the 4th Water Tank Company, R.A.M.C. 

 The effects of an illness earlier in life precluded him from 

 joining a combatant branch of service in the Great War, 

 so he entered the Army in 1917 in a capacity in which 

 his scientific education would find its full value. He 

 served in France during the great push of 1918; but in 

 January 1919 returned home on leave. He caught infiueuza 

 on 27th January. Pneumonia followed, with rapid and 

 fatal issue on 4th February. Thus terminates, at the age 

 of 32, a life that was full of promise for the future; for 

 in the short years given him Davie had already achieved 

 much. 



He was educated at the Glasgow High Scliool, mid 

 passing on to the University of Glasgow, he graduated 

 M.A, in 1907 with First Class Honours in English. His 

 work in the Department of English Literature was such 

 as would have justified his adopting some career in relation 

 to it. But he had already taken the class of Elementary 



