1 26 HEROES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VER Y. 



A poet has since described him as one of 'leonic aspect. 

 Not such do we remember him. A pale, large, rather flattish 

 face, massive, brent brows, from under which shone eyes, now 

 piercing as it were to your inmost soul, now melting into 

 almost feminine tenderness, a coarsish nose, with dilated nostrils, 

 a finely-chiselled mouth, which seemed the most expressive 

 feature of the face, and capable of being made at will the 

 exponent of every passion and emotion. Who could describe 

 that smile? When even the sun has tried it he has failed; 

 and yet who can recall those features and not realise it as it 

 played round the delicate lines of the upper lip, where firmness 

 was strangely blended with other and apparently opposing 

 quahties?" His general deportment has thus been summed 

 up : " He could be considerate in a sick room, genial at a 

 feast, joyous at a festival, capable of discourse with many 

 minds, large-souled, not to be shrivelled up into any one form, 

 fashion, or temperament." When rapidly climbing the ladder 

 of life, and when he was daily gaining an increased practice, 

 he still kept himself interested in all his old schoolmates and 

 Bathgate friends. 



We now come to a turning-point in his career. Professor 

 Hamilton resigned the Midwifery chair in the university in 

 1839, and Dr. Simpson announced himself as a candidate. By 

 hard work and a stiff canvass amongst the members of the town 

 council, who were the patrons, he was elected by a majority of 

 one. Partly because his celibacy had been an objection to his 

 election, and now that his position fairly warranted such a 

 change, he was married, on the 26th December, 1839, to Miss 

 Jessie Grindlay, daughter of Mr Grindlay, shipowner, Liver- 

 pool. The honeymoon was protracted until after the election, 

 and his Liverpool letter, telling of his success, ran thus : — 



