1856. UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE. 431 



To be considered an authority upon things in general was no 

 new experience. Even in the High School he was distinguished 

 from the other boys in regard to this qualification. His classical 

 master, Mr. Mackay, had a fancy for asking out-of-the-way ques- 

 tions when strangers happened to be present, to impress them with 

 the fund of information possessed by his pupils. Soon perceiving 

 George Wilson's fitness to do him credit in this respect, he used 

 to call out at the appearance of visitors, " Wilson, make ready." 



After his appointment as Professor, his fellow- citizens seemed 

 to look on him as their knowledge-box, and very peculiar were 

 often the demands made on him. While waiting for an audience, 

 a gentleman one day informed the Museum -assistant of the pur- 

 port of his visit, and was assured, in reply, there was no proba- 

 bility that Dr. Wilson could solve his difficulty. The assurance 

 was vain, " For," urged the inquirer, " he knows everything." 

 The belief of this man seemed one generally held, and certainly 

 not without cause, for few applied in vain, and the assistance 

 was given so cheerfully and readily as to leave an impression 

 that he himself was the party under obligation. Once, while in 

 London on Museum business, he was amused at being hailed on 

 entering the Government office, " Oh, here's Wilson, he '11 be 

 able to tell us," and so the puzzle over which they had been 

 cogitating was immediately solved. 



While addressing an assemblage of printers and their friends, 

 at a social meeting in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, he showed, 

 incidentally, a familiarity with their work, which led a young 

 printer, on leaving, to speak of the speech " of the compositor." 

 Being asked to which of the speakers he referred, he replied, 

 " the one with spectacles," whose thorough acquaintance with 

 their craft he imagined could only be the result of long prac- 

 tice in its details. 



Allusion has been made in a preceding letter to a lecture de- 

 livered to medical students. It was shortly afterwards published 

 along with other lectures, 1 by request of the Medical Missionary 

 Society, at whose instance it was written. We have already 

 quoted from it, as illustrating his experience on entering hospi- 



i 'On the Character of God, as inferred from the Study of Human Anatomy.' 

 'Addresses to Medical Students.' Edinburgh : A. and C. Black,, 1856. 



