4 80 MEMOIK OF GEORGK WILSON. CHAP. XL 



Abernethy, he said solemnly to her on parting : " Janet, I urn 

 trying to live every day so that I may be ready to quit on an 

 hour's notice." More strongly were his desires apparent in the 

 few words he addressed to her nephew, Dr. Niven : " I am re- 

 signed to live." Such readiness for ' both worlds is difficult to 

 realize. This life seemed to him so full of exhaustless springs 

 of delight, that the only way of reaching in thought his eleva- 

 tion, is by entering into the spirit of his favourite words : " To 

 be with Christ is far better." 



It has been supposed by some that he had at this time a pre- 

 sentiment of death being close at hand. This has originated in 

 their knowledge of some of those expressions of consciousness 

 of his physical liabilities, which were frequently used by him. 

 Further than that he was aware his time on earth could not be 

 prolonged much longer, we believe he had no presentiment such 

 as has been imagined. In October he writes : " I find myself 

 steadily getting weaker, and less fit for work. Constant attacks 

 of bleeding from the lungs sap my strength, and warn me how 

 easily I would give way under any acute attack of illness. I 

 am cheerful enough, nevertheless, and it may please God to 

 prolong my days, but I am compelled to look gravely at the 

 opposite possibility." 



He has himself been the narrator of his life. Once again, 

 and for the last time, let us listen to him telling his brother 

 how the busy month has passed : 



" ELM COTTAGE, Nov. 11, 1859. 



" MY DEAK DANIEL, I have determined not to let another 

 week pass without writing, although duty seems to say, ' Write 

 at your lectures,' and a pair of barking lungs bid me lie down 

 and sleep. I write in bed, which is the explanation of any zig- 

 zagginess you may perceive in the slope of the words. I am 

 thankful to creep early to my couch, but I don't 'turn in' till 

 about 1 A.M. generally. 



" We have had a month of great excitement, in which I have 

 had my full share. First came, as a sort of preliminary gym- 

 nastic, an address to the Pharmaceutical Society. 1 Then the 



i 'The Education of the Pharmaceutical Chemist.' ' Pharmacexitical Journal,' 

 Dec. 1859. 



