278 Obituary Notice. 



OUtuary Notice of Sir G. Wyville Thomson. By Emeritus 

 Professor Balfour. 



(Read 13th AprU 1882.) 



Sir Charles Wyville Thomson was born at Bonsyde, near 

 Linlithgow, on the 5th of March 1830. His early studies 

 were prosecuted at Merchiston Castle Academy, under the 

 superintendence of Mr Charles Chalmers. In 1845 he 

 commenced his medical studies in the University of 

 Edinburgh. But he soon stepped aside into the special 

 pursuits of Natural Science. In 1847 he joined the 

 Botanical Society ; and soon after became Secretary of the 

 Eoyal Physical Society. In 1850 he attended my class 

 of botany in the University of Edinburgh. In the same 

 year he obtained a Lectureship of Botany in King's College, 

 Aberdeen ; and in the following year he was appointed 

 Professor of Botany in Marischal College and University. 

 He afterwards received the degree of LL.D. from the 

 University of Aberdeen. The subject of Natural History 

 in its various departments was his study ; and even at that 

 period of his career he became an eminent specialist in 

 these subjects. 



A vacancy having occurred in the Professorship of 

 Natural History in Queen's College, Cork, Thomson 

 was appointed to the ofifice in August 1863. Soon 

 after, however, a vacancy occurred in the Professorship 

 of Mineralogy and Geology in the Queen's College, 

 Belfast, and Wyville Thomson was transferred to it in 

 September 1854. He then taught all the branches of 

 Natural History during a long residence at Belfast. 

 During this period he also distinguished himself by many 

 excellent papers on Zoology and Geology, — which were 

 read at the meetings of the Royal Society of London, and 

 were published in the Philosophical Transactions^ the 

 volume for 1865 bearing special evidence to Thomson's 

 powers as a naturalist. He also took a deep interest in 

 the Paris Exhibition for 1867, of which he was a Vice- 

 President. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 of London in 1867. 



