OUtuanj Notice of the late Br 31' Bain. 261 



over his subject, which was always well and thoroughly 

 elaborated before being committed to writing. Facts and 

 deductions from facts were alone valued by him ; all else he 

 considered absolutely superfluous. 



After Dr M'Bain's death I received a letter from an old and 

 valued friend of his,* in which there are some very apt 

 critical remarks, which may be here appropriately quoted. 



" Dr M'Bain," says this friend, " was not a man who formed 

 opinions hastily. In science as in politics, as might be 

 expected, he was a Liberal, and I may say shared most of the 

 advanced views promulgated of late years, but having once 

 formed an opinion on any subject he was singularly tenacious 

 of it ; it was only a perfect tour de force of facts that would 

 compel him to quit his old anchorage, and either remove to 

 another or set himself adrift on the world of doubt once more. 

 It was the same with his friendships. He was slow to 

 take to a new man, but having once formed a favourable 

 opinion of him, his regard and attachment were firm and 

 enduring. Hence Dr M'Bain's opinion went a long way with 

 good men, and his influence was equally great with those who 

 knew the perfect disinterestedness with which he took up any 

 object dear to him, and the slowness but sureness with which 

 he arrived at his conclusions. 



"His knowledge of science was very extensive. As a 

 naturalist he might not have been a great authority in any 

 one department of science, for his range was great. But 

 whatever point he took up he made it his own, and on that 

 question at least he was thorough. He had little rhetoric, 

 and the scientific use of the imagination was strange to him. 

 One fact, as I have often heard him say, was worth all the 

 poetry of Christendom." 



"As regards the Doctor's personal character" (the same friend 

 adds) " I need not speak. His contempt for anything mean 

 or little was as thorough as that of any man of my acquaint- 

 ance. Morally the words of an old epitaph I have some- 

 where seen might well be applied to our friend — 'He was 

 a despiser of sorry persons and little actions' " 



* Dr Robert Brown, formerly the respected secretary of this Society, now 

 resident in London. 



