262 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. X. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM, AND THE CHAIR OF 

 TECHNOLOGY. 



"I doubt my body 



Will hardly serve me through : while I have laboured 

 It has decayed ; and now that I demand 

 Its best assistance, it will crumble fast." 



PARACELSUS. 



THE Session of 1854-55 was begun with gloomy antici- 

 pations as to health. " My lungs are not what they should 

 be ; and the only thing that could do them good, rest, 

 I cannot get. I have large classes this winter, and must do 

 all I can for them. I leave the issue in the hands of God, 

 for I cannot help myself, nor does any outlet appear." 

 Intelligence received then of the death of several relatives 

 and much-loved friends, fell heavily on him, when less able 

 physically to bear the shock. Amongst these was Professor 

 Edward Forbes, who but a few months before had entered 

 on the duties of the Natural History Chair in the Edinburgh 

 University. His welcome by his old student friends was 

 of the warmest, and unbounded hopes of the new career 

 opening to him filled the hearts of many. In the summer 

 of 1854 he gave a short course of lectures, and was entering 

 upon his first winter session, when a few days of suffering 

 carried him off. On the 24th of November, George writes 



