200 HIS CLAIMS ON HISTORY. 



his industry, his art, and his research. Of his position 

 in the natural sciences a varied sentiment may prevail, 

 owing to the difficulty of assigning to a many-sided 

 observer like Goodsir one side of real greatness that 

 is incomparably manifest and larger than all others. 

 His observations on the teeth, his many original con- 

 tributions to cellular physiology and pathology, his 

 application of geometry to the study of anatomy, and 

 his morphological disquisitions, stand as undoubted 

 claims to honourable distinction in anatomical, physio- 

 logical, and pathological science. 



He had accumulated note-books, and an extraor- 

 dinary amount of manuscript on anatomy and various 

 branches of knowledge ; but, with the exception of the 

 papers noticed in these volumes, nearly all his writings 

 were imperfect and incomplete. There were heads of 

 lectures, sketches of greater works laid down in a series 

 of propositions, and plans for the publication of mono- 

 graphs on subjects somewhat apart from anatomy, but 

 which he thought capable of Goodsirian elucidation. 

 These dicta collectanea were like passim records of ideas 

 that floated him bravely on the sea of time — to-day 

 of couleur cle rose prospectus ; to-morrow cast aside for 

 more captivating allurements to the Goodsir aesthetics. 

 Many of the changes, however, in his scientific and 

 literary programme arose from circumstances beyond 

 his own control : the pressure of public duty, not un- 

 frequently of public exactions, ill health, and other 

 hindrances. It was painful to turn over such a host 

 of fragments, and to sec the wasted labour of years 

 lying like debris on the earth ; or as clay without the 



