1911-1912.] In Memoriant : Writ. Watson, M. D., I.M. S. 447 



scopical with chemical research the application of reagents 

 may be made effectual for the detection of poisonous or other 

 substances, in quantity very minute. I understand it is 

 possible, by the aid of the polariscope, to discover the 

 1-1 00,000th of a grain of hydrocyanic acid, mercury, or 

 arsenic. With the aid of the spectroscope the detection of 

 poisons becomes very much simplified. 



In JHemortam : William watson, m.d., ijls. 



By Mr JOHN LINDSAY. 



{Read Oct. S3, 1912.) 



By the death of Dr William Watson a familiar figure has 

 disappeared from our midst. Dr Watson was for fully a 

 quarter of a century a greatly esteemed member, and for 

 a triennial period the President, of this Society, and it is a 

 fitting thing that we should call to remembrance his services 

 to the Society, as well as put on record some of the events 

 in his notable career. 



William Watson was born at Aberdeen on March 19, 

 1832, and was the eldest of the three sons of William 

 Watson, Sheriff-Substitute of Aberdeenshire from 1829 to 

 1866, still remembered for his philanthropic work amongst 

 the poor children of Aberdeen. He was a student of the 

 University of his native city, taking his medical degree when 

 barely twenty-one years of age. He then went to Paris for 

 several months, attending classes to perfect himself in French, 

 as well as visiting frequently the hospitals and medical schools 

 of Paris. It was at this time that Dr Watson became the 

 determined opponent of vivisection which was a character- 

 istic of his after-life, — the horrors perpetrated on the lower 

 animals, of which he was then a witness, never being effaced 

 from his memory. In 1853 he joined the East India 

 Company's service as an assistant surgeon, and was attached 

 to different European regiments at Meerut, Agra, &c., till 



