516 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. 



readiness for the future building, can alone appreciate the care 

 and thought which must have guided him in the selection and 

 arrangement of such varied materials. Most wonderful and 

 refreshing too was it to behold the enthusiasm with which he 

 bore his feeble body over a manufactory, peeping into every 

 process, collecting samples, and gathering the workmen around 

 him, who always seemed delighted to tell him all they knew, 

 or to listen to his kind and instructive remarks. His technolo- 

 gical course, too, was largely attended, and in his inaugural 

 lecture for 1855 1 he explained the nature of Technology as the 

 science of the utilitarian arts, and expressed his intention of at 

 once giving a systematic course, "so that the Museum will 

 minister to the Chair, not the Chair wait upon the Museum.' 

 The plan of the course is thus described in a recent article in 

 the ' North British Eeview/ quoting from his class syllabus : 



" The course was divided into mineral, vegetable, and animal 

 technology. Under the first were included the relation of the 

 atmosphere, the ocean and tributary waters, and the earth, to 

 Technology ; and among special subjects, fuel, building material, 

 glass and glass-making, pottery, earthenware, stoneware, and 

 porcelain ; metallotechny, electrotechny, and magnetotechny. 

 Under the second, or vegetable technology, were considered 

 saccharo-amylaceous substances, sugar- making, albuminous sub- 

 stances, and fermentation, distillation, wood and wood fibres, 

 textile tissues, bleaching, dyeing, calico-printing, paper-making, 

 scriptorial or graphic industrial arts, caoutchouc, gutta-percha, 

 and the resins, fats, and oils. Under the third section, or ani- 

 mal technology, were included the mechanical application and 

 chemical products of bones, ivory, horns, hoofs, tortoiseshell, 

 shells, and corals; skins, tanning, fish-scales, hair, fur, wool, 

 bristles, quills, and feathers, animal refuse." 



The introductory prelection of the following year was on the 

 physical sciences which form the basis of Technology; 2 and for 

 1858 and 1859 he chose the progress of the telegraph. 3 He 



1 ' What is Technology ?' Sutherland & Knox. 



- Printed in the ' Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal.' January 1857. 



3 Published as a separate treatise by Macmillan & Co. 



