1859. SCIENTIFIC MEETING. 477 



finest kind. . . . The beauty of some of the lights is so great, 

 that I could not help uttering, when I saw them, a cry of joy. 

 They are good for any man to see poet, painter, philosopher. 

 He ought to get good from them. 



" There were two Museums, one Archaeological, the other 

 Geological, but my lungs would not allow me to visit either. 

 I went to the second Conversazione solely to see the electric 

 lights again, and after witnessing them went home." 



His warm sympathies w^ere called forth at this time on behalf 

 of one of his colleagues, Professor Kelland, whom he had hoped 

 to meet at the Aberdeen meetings, but who, instead, was lying 

 with fractured limb at a railway station, near which a collision 

 had occurred. On returning home, George sent him a full 

 account of proceedings, as the only method open to him, of 

 sending a ray of light into the sick-chamber of his friend. The 

 letter has been published in full j 1 we take from it in part to 

 complete our sketch. " I write you mainly to ask if I can do 

 anything for you, and to beg that you will not hesitate to com- 

 mand me to the utmost. It will be the greatest pleasure to 

 serve you in any way ; meanwhile, I note down a point or two 

 about the British Association at Aberdeen, which may not be 

 uninteresting. 



" We had a numerous meeting. Great are the attractions of 

 a Prince, and had he [Prince Albert] remained throughout the 

 week we should certainly have had to hold our meetings al 

 fresco, and to bivouac in the open air. Wisely, however, he gave 

 but one day to the sections, and the stir moderated thereafter. 

 . . . We had a Eed Lion dinner on the Monday, when Owen 

 presided, and about sixty men from all the sections sat down. 

 We broke up very early, but not before Blackie had astonished 

 them with one of his songs. I welcome these dinners for the 

 opportunity they afford of seeing men you have long known by 

 report, and wish to know better. ... I spent a very happy and 

 instructive week, and came back a lowlier man. These meetings 

 ought to make one humble. I hope they made me so." At the 

 Eed Lion dinner Professor Blackie caused astonishment other- 

 wise than by his. song, in coming from one end of the long room 



i ' North British Review,' Article < Professor George Wilson.' February 1860. 



