1855. PROFESSOR OF TECHNOLOGY. 413 



posal brought by the Board of Trade before Government. Dr. 

 Wilson made no solicitations, and merely expressed willing- 

 ness to accept such an appointment should it be made. 



To Dr. Cairns he writes : " It will bring with it I hope some 

 bodily rest, although it does not add to my wealth nor dimi- 

 nish my responsibility ; and I know too well that this world 

 must be to every wise man a scene of struggle, and to every 

 humble man a place of sorrow, to expect that I shall have less 

 of its cares or woes than before. With unfeigned sincerity 

 I can say that I have rejoiced at the prospect of serving my 

 Saviour more and better through the influence it may give me, 

 and the prayer is often on my lips, and oftener in my heart, that I 

 may be made bold and wise enough to confess Him before men. 



" I see so many of my scientific and literary friends devoured 

 by the cares of the world, and fretted by its little troubles, that 

 I tremble lest I too become a selfish scheming worldling. Only 

 God's grace, I know, can keep me unspotted from the world, 

 but it can, and your prayers will not be wanting, that so long 

 as I have a place in this world I may be kept from the evil that 

 is in it. 



" I wish I could visit you, but it may not be. My duties will 

 seriously begin on October 1st, for I have my laboratory still to 

 keep going, and to gather wonders for iny museum from the 

 four quarters of heaven." 



The same desire is expressed at the close of a long chemical 

 letter to Dr. Gladstone : "As for the Chair, I trust and pray 

 that it will increase my power to serve my blessed Lord and 

 Master." His appointment was welcomed with unqualified de- 

 light by the public generally. One of the periodicals of the 

 time remarks : " The formation of the Industrial Museum 

 would in fact have been a matter of comparatively little impor- 

 tance to the community generally had not this appointment 

 [that of the new Chair] been made ; and had the Government 

 sought through the length and breadth of the land for a person 

 fitted for carrying out the objects contemplated by it, they 

 would not readily have found one so well qualified as Dr. 

 George Wilson." A writer in the ' North British Eeview - 

 believed to be Sir David Brewster attributes it in great part 



