1859. ONLY MAN IMMORTAL. 497 



" If God's Paper, Pen, and Ink are thus perishable, shall we 

 complain that ours do not endure ? It is the writer that shall be 

 immortal, not the writing" 



These last words, as Dr. Cairns has remarked, " are now the 

 best consolation to the wide circle who lament his sudden de- 

 parture and unaccomplished aims, and the strongest incentive 

 to pursue and aspire after the same Christian immortality." 



In a graceful tribute to his worth, offered by Professor Kel- 

 land, in addressing the pupils of the classes of mathematics, 

 at the close of the Session, the words are compared to the 

 last expression of Baron Cauchy, a celebrated mathematician. 

 " When requested to give repose to his mind, and thus to second 

 the efforts of those who were praying for him, he replied, ' Men 

 pass away, but their work remains pray for the work.' The 

 one declared that man alone is immortal, his works perish ; the 

 other, that man passes away, but his work remains. But yet, are 

 they not the same ? Like the rays which issue from a cloud that 

 obscures the setting sun, they seem to diverge, this to the right 

 hand, that to the left, but they are in reality essentially parallel." 

 Biographical notices appeared in many of the periodicals of 

 the day. From one by his friend, Dr. John Brown, we have 

 made extracts occasionally. In a French Eeview, L'Abbe 

 Moigno says, " Sa mort a un age si peu avance (quarante et un 

 ans) est presque un malheur national." 1 From America there 

 soon rebounded similar testimonies : " The University of Edin- 

 burgh has lately suffered severely by the death of one of its 

 most distinguished teachers. The department of science has 

 been specially unfortunate. Since the death of the venerable 

 Jameson, Professor Forbes, whose fine genius and extensive 

 erudition gave promise of an illustrious life, has been laid in 

 the sepulchre of his fathers ; and ere yet his country, and we 

 may say the world of science, has ceased to mourn for this most 

 gifted of her children, another equally honourable and beloved 

 has been laid in the dust. The name of Professor George 

 Wilson, whose recent appointment as Eegius Director of the 

 Industrial Museum of Scotland, and to the Professorship of 

 Technology in the University of Edinburgh, was hailed with so 



1 ' Cosmos/ le 6 Janvier I860. 

 2 I 



