CHAP. xvi. PROPHET WITHOUT HONOUR. 349 



an Associate.* Mr. Couch wrote to congratulate him. 

 He said : " The number of Associates is now limited 

 to a few, so that it is very difficult to get elected, 

 but then it is a greater honour." 



It never rains but it pours. A few months later, 

 Edward was unanimously admitted a member of the 

 Aberdeen Natural History Society, at its monthly 

 meeting, held in Marischal College ; and in March 

 1867, he was furnished with the diploma of the 

 Glasgow Natural History Society. 



" But a prophet is not without honour, save in his 

 own country." Although Banff possessed an " Insti- 

 tution for Science, Literature, and the Arts, and for 

 the encouragement of native genius and talent," the 

 members did not even elect Edward an honorary 

 member. The Linnean Society perhaps the most 

 distinguished Association of Naturalists in the world 

 had discovered Edward's genius and talent, and 

 elected him an Associate. But the scientific men of 

 Banff fought shy of the native shoemaker. It may, 

 however, be added, that the Banff Institution, find- 

 ing no native nor any other genius and talent to en- 

 courage, became defunct in 1875, and handed over 

 their collection to the corporation, whose property 

 it now is. 



* On looking over the records of the Linnean Society, we find 

 that on the 1st of February 1866, Thomas Edward was proposed as 

 an Associate by C. Spence Bate, Jonathan Couch, A. Hancock, "W. 

 N. Brady, J. E. Gray, and M. W. Baird. He was elected by ballot 

 on the 5th of April 1866. 



