44 



Burrowhead, on the Galloway shore, to find graves in foreign soil ; 

 and, among the rest, were the remains of the gallant Thurot him- 

 self, dressed in full naval uniform, and further recognised by the 

 initials on his linen, and his name engraved in full on the lid of his 

 silver tobacco box. He was laid to rest in the old churchyard of 

 Kirkmaiden, Sir William Maxwell, of Monreith, acting as chief 

 mourner. Mr. Patterson gave a number of particulars concerning 

 Thurot's parentage and early career, which was chiefly devoted to 

 smuggling. He was of Irish extraction, his grandfather having 

 been Captain Farrell, an officer in the army of King James 2nd. 

 Mr. Patterson concluded by reading several of the ballads which 

 were composed on the subject of Thurot's affair, including " The 

 Siege of Carrickfergus," " Thurot and Elliot," " Thurot's Dream," 

 &c. 



On 1 8th December, Rev. Wm. MacIlwaine, D.D., read a paper 

 on " Life." 



After some preliminary remarks, the lecturer proceeded to trace, 

 historically, the investigations into the subject of Life in the 

 earliest schools of thought, as preserved in the philosophical 

 systems of ancient Greece and Rome. 



In the opposing systems of Heraclitus and Pythagoras, the for- 

 mer reduced nature itself to dream and illusion, while the latter 

 contended that numbers constituted the essence of all things. 

 The sublime, but equally imaginative, themes of Plato and Aristotle 

 followed, and continue, even in our own day, to exercise their in- 

 fluence on philosophical inquiry. The various theories respecting 

 the vital principle were then noticed in detail. Fire, light, oxygen, 

 electricity, and galvanism, have been variously esteemed as closely 

 allied to, if not identical with, that principle. All of these are but 

 hypotheses, and none more stable, and certainly not more sublime, 

 than that of the immortal Grecian sage, Plato, who described the 

 world as "an animal with a soul, truly intellectual, and created 

 through the providence of the Deity." 



