70 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



characteristics which distinguished him in later life. From 

 his boyhood he had been accustomed to wander amongst the 

 dangerous precipices and lofty sea-cliffs of his native islands, 

 of which it has been said that " there no man dies, for each 

 one breaks his neck " ; and he had, further, been early 

 accustomed to trust himself alone in a small boat, in which 

 he often traversed the wild seas of the Orkneys, or found 

 his way from place to place along the dangerous coast-lines 

 of those parts. Surroundings like these could not fail to 

 leave a strong impress upon the character of any thoughtful 

 and reflective youth ; and those who knew Heddle in after 

 life had no difficulty in tracing the development of many 

 of his characteristics to the influence of these early sur- 

 roundings. It was to these early associations that he owed 

 much of his very strong self-reliance; his readiness, when 

 need be, to face danger; his fondness for things mysterious, 

 vast, and impressive ; and, lastly, the development of a 

 powerful bodily frame and a strong constitution. 



From Orkney he went to school at the Edinburgh 

 Academy. There he seems early to have distinguished 

 himself by his readiness to do battle on behalf of his 

 weaker school-fellows. One or two stories told about him 

 while there showed him to have been possessed of consider- 

 able self-control, fortitude, and pluck. Some other stories 

 connected with his life at the Academy are told in the 

 well-known ''Chronicles of the Canning Club," to which 

 those interested in further details are referred. 



After leaving the Academy, Heddle went to Merchiston 

 Castle, w^here we have records of him in 1842, '43, and '44. 

 While there he stayed with the genial author of " Rab and 

 his Friends," to whose influence Heddle was wont to attribute 

 his tastes for natural science, and much else that was good 

 in the later years of his life. At Merchiston he helped to 

 found a school Natural History Society, whose members 

 energetically worked at the zoology and botany of the 

 neighbourhood. Amongst those who were fellow-members 

 with Heddle were Lauder Lindsay of Perth, Wyville 

 Thomson, Lawson of Dalhousie College, Canada, Howden 

 of Montrose, and others hardly less well known. It was 



