ANATOMY AND SCEPTICISM. 145 



resplendent — nay, more brilliant than diamond surface 

 or stones of ruby. 



The death of D. R. Hay and the retirement of 

 Goodsir materially affected the interests of the ^Esthetic 

 Club ; it no longer exists. It may be mentioned here 

 that Mr. Hay, wishing to show his high appreciation 

 of Professor Goodsir's aid and counsel in many direc- 

 tions, presented him with Dyce's Cartoon of the 

 Judgment of Solomon. Looking upon the cartoon as 

 calculated to foster a love of art among students, 

 Professor Goodsir, soon after Mr. Hay's death, offered 

 it for the acceptance of the Royal Scottish Academy, 

 who evidently prized the gift, and gave it a place on 

 the walls of the Royal Institution, Edinburgh. 



Late in the autumn of 1852 some of the leading 

 minds in Edinburgh established an association for the 

 removal of " Professional Tests in the Lay Chairs of 

 Scottish [ T nivcrsities." The religious community took 

 alarm at this charitable proposal, and one of its bigoted 

 members wrote a furious letter to The Edinburgh 

 Evening Post and Scottish Record, concluding his argu- 

 ment for the continuance of the most rigid tests by 

 Btating that "no infidel could desire a better channel 

 for the insinuation of scepticism than the class-room of 

 moral philosophy, or the lecture-room of anatomy." 

 This was ;i strong dose of ruffianism for any man to 

 bear, and must have been very galling to the professor 

 of anatomy t who had proved ;i severe religious ortho- 

 doxy for >i\ years in bis chair, and .ill his life stuck to 

 the backbone. of Calvinism, lie took up his pen in 



Vol.. I. I. 



