392 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Secretary, introductory to an estimate of his contributions to 

 Scottish ornothology. But as the materials for this were 

 not so readily available as had been thought, the intention 

 was given up. Eeference will, however, be made to him in 

 another connection. 



In the course of the present year the Society has lost by 

 death several highly esteemed Fellows, — two of whom had 

 laboured long and earnestly, and with rare devotion, in its 

 interests ; and other two who, though seldom at our meetings, 

 deserve some notice. 



1. George Freeland Barbour, Esquire of Bouskeid and 

 Gryff'e, was born in Glasgow in 1810, and died at his town 

 residence, 11 George Square, Edinburgh, in January last. 

 He w^as educated in Glasgow. After attending the arts' 

 course in the University of Glasgow, he went to Manchester, 

 where, with his brother, the late Robert Barbour of Boles- 

 worth Castle, Cheshire, he founded the well-known mercantile 

 firm that still bears their names. In 1846 he retired from 

 business, and came to dwell in Edinburgh, where he was 

 soon widely know^n as a cultured Christian gentleman, ever 

 forward in works of religious beneficence and practical 

 philanthropy. Mr Barbour joined this Society in 1849. He 

 was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His 

 shrewdness, sagacity, strong common sense and first-rate 

 business habits, soon secured for him the respect and con- 

 fidence of business men. He was a Director of the Bank of 

 Scotland, and also of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway 

 Company. His intellectual attainments, interest in the pro- 

 gress of science, and general love of knowledge, early made 

 for him a place in a circle which counted among its members 

 Professor Fleming, Dr Greville, Professor Balfour, Dr Cold- 

 stream, Professor Simpson, Dr George Wilson, Hugh Miller, 

 and, later. Professor Edward Forbes. George F. Barbour was 

 a type of man to whom the w^orld owes much — men who to 

 great aptness for business and the love of knowledge for its 

 own sake, add what gives completeness to character, a devout 

 and earnest religious spirit, and the ever upward habit of the 

 heart and the eye — 



"Vivo tibi, ac moriar ; spes mea, vita, saliis." 



