SIJ^ JAMES Y. SIAIFSON. 



SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSOxN'. 



VIIld) ATHGATE, a town of over 5000 inhabitants, lies in 

 ^^ a district rich in coal, shale, ironstone, and limestone, 

 about eighteen miles west from Edinburgh. Looking south- 

 wards from the slope of the hill overlooking the town, the eye 

 meets the line of the Pentlands, intersected with deep valleys 

 and ravines; the country between is dotted with oil-works, 

 which at night look like a village on fire. Eastward Arthur's 

 Seat and Edinburgh Castle loom largely through the haze of 

 distance ; westward is an undulating agricultural tract ; north- 

 wards the eye meets the blue line of the Firth of Forth, 

 extending upwards towards Stirling. The town probably did 

 not number over 3000 inhabitants when James Young Simpson 

 was born there, 7th June, 181 1. His immediate ancestry on 

 both father and mother's side came of a good farmer's stock. 

 Further back, on his mother's side, he was allied with the 

 gentle blood of Scotland ; on the father's side with a race of 

 vigorous limb, strong will, and great shrewdness and industry. 

 His father's name was David Simpson, and his mother's Mary 

 Jarvey. At the time of the birth of the seventh son and eighth 

 child, the fortunes of David Simpson were at a very low ebb. 

 The drawings in the baker's shop, on the day on which James 

 Y. Simpson was born, amounted to 8s. 3d. Mrs. Simpson, a 



