66 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



a student in this University, and after I had completed 

 my medical curriculum, by Professor Nicol's wish I 

 spent much time in the Natural History Museum, 

 working over the collections of animals, many of which 

 had been received unnamed, and required to be deter- 

 mined and prepared for exhibition. I also went care- 

 fully over the older collections, both of animals and of 

 fossils, making good the damage sustained in the course 

 of years. In this work I obtained a practical training 

 of very great value, and was prepared to estimate the 

 difficulty of carrying on such work with imperfect 

 resources in books and other means of information, and 

 while having to rely on one's own judgment. During 

 my work I had occasion to become well acquainted 

 with Professor MacGillivray's collections preserved in 

 the Museum. The neatness of his writing and methods 

 were conspicuous in all his work ; but admiration of 

 this was soon followed by respect and honour as 1 came 

 to know more fully the width and accuracy of that 

 work. From his collections I turned to his writings, to 

 find only still stronger reason for wonder that he could 

 have found opportunity to write so much, and on so widely 

 different sides of natural science. But still higher rose 

 my respect for his talents as I realised that he was no 

 mere compiler, but that all he wrote showed that he 

 had learned in practical study what he sought to teach. 

 Unwearied industry at the command of great talent 

 alone could have enabled him to do so much and so 

 well. His manuals on botany and on geology show 

 that his knowledge of these sciences was not that of a 



