278 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CHAIR OF 



Besides giving lectures in the small room, Professor 

 Macdonald sometimes met his students in the museum, and 

 examined special groups, such as minerals, geological or 

 zoological specimens. He also met them at his house for 

 disquisitions on his special theories of the skull, and other 

 topics. Though no written examinations were held, several 

 essays tested the earnestness of the students. Moreover, 

 the Professor encouraged those interested in the subject by 

 giving them free access to his collections at the end of the 

 course, and some of the labels then affixed were found more 

 than a quarter of a century afterwards. His valuable private 

 collections of natural history specimens, indeed, were in 

 themselves a source of real information to all who chose to 

 examine them, and to the end of his life he constantly added 

 to his stores. 



On the whole, Professor Macdonald had no special leaning 

 towards minute anatomical detail or to histology, and little 

 to marine zoology ; but he had a gift for generalising and for 

 launching theories of considerable ingenuity. He has left 

 no original work of note behind him, but he deserves to be 

 remembered, not only for his efforts under many difficulties, 

 but for the large number of rare and valuable specimens in 

 zoology, comparative anatomy, and mineralogy which he 

 presented to the museum, and which have enabled his 

 successors to illustrate their courses in a satisfactory 

 manner. 



The change from civil to natural history brought no 

 addition to the students attending the class ; indeed, by and by 

 great difficulty was experienced in having one at all, though 

 the course was usually free. Nor was natural history at this 

 period exceptional. The accomplished and genial Professor 

 G. E. Day, an intimate friend of Edward Forbes and the 

 Goodsirs, who then held the Chair of Medicine and Anatomy, 

 encountered similar difficulties, and at best his classes were 

 small, though of course they were not free. 



