312 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. X. 



formed by their means, so that he says, looking back on it, 

 " my memories of Ireland are very pleasant." A merrier 

 party than they were could scarcely have been found, while 

 business was by no means forgotten. Dr. Wilson read to 

 the Natural History Section a paper " On the electric fishes 

 as the earliest electric machines employed by mankind," 

 which was more fully written out for the " Edinburgh Philo- 

 sophical Magazine ; " l and to the Chemical Section a paper 

 " On the processes for detection of Fluorine." 2 



After his return Dr. Gladstone received the following 

 account of his employments : 



u Mv DEAR JOHN, 



" ' Thirty days hath September, 

 April, June, and November,' 



and on the last day of the first, A.D. 1857, I proceed to 

 answer your most welcome letter of yesterday. 



" I am only getting into working order again. It takes 

 me some time to settle down after such a whirl as I was 

 in. I have not exactly been idle, but certainly I have 

 not contrived to do much. I am rather digesting plans 

 than carrying them out. A President's Address ; a Sylla- 

 bus ; three Special Lectures on Paper, Pens, and Ink ; one 

 on Industrial Museums j and a course of prelections on 

 Technology, are at present simmering together in my 

 head, like the diversified contents of Meg Merrilee's gipsy 

 camp-kettle. To-morrow, when the new month comes in, 

 I'll begin ladling them off into separate pots and pans, 

 and fall to the process of cooking properly so called. 

 Meanwhile I am chiefly occupied with Forbes's Life and 



1 "Edin. New Phil. Mag." October 1857. 



2 "Brit. Assoc. Reports" for 1857, p. 61. 



