l8o MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VIII. 



to be pre-eminently, is sure to attract a large number of 

 intelligent, educated, and critically appreciative listeners. 

 To address audiences so intelligent and so courteous, was 

 a source of gratification, affording an arena on which his 

 powers had wider scope than the limits of his ordinary field 

 could give. 



Few can estimate the amount of forethought and trouble 

 which a popular scientific lecture, illustrated by experi- 

 ments, entails : but so far was Dr. Wilson from grudging 

 this trouble, that he invariably prepared for each evening, 

 and with the greatest care, more than could be delivered, 

 and received convincing proofs of appreciation in the 

 unwavering attention of his hearers, even sometimes for 

 an hour and three-quarters. An hour before he began, 

 seats were eagerly secured by them, and from half-past 

 seven till ten have they frequently been in attendance, 

 night after night. To him these lectures involved loss of 

 sleep and appetite, such as made them the most injurious 

 to health of all his labours. A list before us of fifty-two 

 items, required for the illustrating experimentally of one 

 lecture, testifies to these facts, while the more elaborate of 

 his prelections were, one might soberly say, so much of his 

 very life told out. Almost invariably were they followed 

 by sharp illnesses, yet not the less was he willing to under- 

 take the duty again and again. 



After his death the following reference to a published 

 lecture was given in writing to his sister : " While glancing 

 at the paper, I remembered the very sound of many of the 

 expressions as I heard them, and how vividly I can recall 

 his look while lecturing those times I went with you, and 

 the great clear profile cast on the wall by the electric light ! 

 All the brilliance and the beauty of the mind, with its 

 thoughts, we can't, in looking back, feel them past ;- only the 



