:> H) MKMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. MIT. 



entering on those nobler heavenly pursuits, we refer the reader 

 to the volume itself. The nature of his disease, and the suffer- 

 ings entailed by attempts at cure, may form an obstacle to its 

 perusal in the minds of many, but the lessons it bears for each 

 one, richly repay an effort to overcome the natural shrinking 

 from painful topics. Care has been taken to make it accept 

 able to the general as well as the professional reader, by the 

 omission of technicalities ; and as the interest it inspires is 

 founded on sources connected with no passing events, it will 

 probably continue to hold a high place amongst biographies. 

 Much in it reveals the inner life of the writer, and thus there 

 may be recognised " the vivid lines of an autobiography painted 

 on another canvas." In it, too, is to be found a specimen of 

 his skill in popularizing a difficult subject, while describing the 

 nervous system, to which Dr. Eeid had devoted much of his 

 research. Abundant evidence was given to the author that his 

 aims in writing Dr. Eeid's ' Life ' had been fulfilled. Private 

 letters from medical men and others show that they who sow in 

 tears, bearing precious seed, return bringing their sheaves with 

 them. The journals of the day contained notices highly favour- 

 able, with one exception, viz., the ' Westminster Eeview,' which 

 took deadly umbrage at its religious tone. From the author of 

 the ' Life of Cavendish' this periodical hoped for better things ; 

 but over the general public, especially the religious portion of it, 

 nothing that George Wilson wrote exerted a power so winning 

 as this book. A second edition of it has been issued. 



In 1852 there also appeared in the 'Travellers' Library' of 

 Messrs. Longman, the reprint of an article, written at the 

 request of Lord Jeffrey for the 'Edinburgh Eeview,' on 'Elec- 

 tricity and the Electric Telegraph." 1 On its first appearance, 

 this article was generally received as the most clear and viva- 

 cious exposition of the subject that had been issued, and con- 

 siderable additions were made before its separate publication. 

 Lord Jeffrey speaks of it in a private letter as an " admirable 

 paper, giving a luminous account of the invention" of the tele 

 graph. A notice of the first edition says, "If any one is des- 



i * Electricity and the Electric Telegraph, to which is added the Chemistry of 

 the Stars.' Longman and Co. 



