198 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. VIII. 



of physiological studies in the wprld to come, which seems 

 to have been suggested by Dr. Carpenter, and welcomed by 

 Dr. Reid. Religious men of science too little refer to their 

 studies as not destined to cease with their lives. I do not 

 know why it has been left to Unitarians to insist on this, but 

 so it is ; and Dr. Priestley is the only chemist who lias ex- 

 pressed his conviction that the study of God's works will 

 proceed under His guidance in heaven. This has always 

 been a favourite belief with myself, and I rejoice to see that 

 Dr. Reid looked forward to prosecuting his acquaintance 

 with the works he had begun to study on this earth. I 

 doubt not that he looked to heaven as a place of holiness 

 far more than as a temple of knowledge ; but the spirits of 

 the just, I cannot doubt, feel no such difficulty in combining 

 faith and reason, moral purity and intellectual labour, as we 

 do. A dying minister, quite ignorant of physical science, 

 said to a brother who made it a great study, 'Samuel, 

 Samuel! I'll know more of it in heaven in half-an-hour 

 than you have learned all your life.' " 



For the wonderful story of Dr. Reid's gradual preparation 

 for entering on those nobler heavenly pursuits, we refer the 

 reader to the volume itself. The nature of his disease, and 

 the sufferings entailed by attempts at cure, may form an 

 obstacle to its perusal in the minds of many, but the 

 lessons it bears for each one, richly repay an effort to 

 overcome the natural shrinking from painful topics. Care 

 has been taken to make it acceptable to the general as well 

 as the professional reader, by the omission of technicalities ; 

 and as the interest it inspires is founded on sources con- 

 nected with no passing events, it will probably continue to 

 hold a high place amongst biographies. Much in it reveals 

 the .inner life of the writer, and thus there may be recog- 

 nised "the vivid lines of an autobiography painted on 



