672 MEMOIR OF REV. JOHN FLEMING, D.D. 
of a mode of conducting philosophical discussion I had never witnessed before. 
Whether this new style be calculated to advance the interests of science, to in- 
crease the respectability of your Journal, or to promote friendship among natu- 
ralists, must be left to the decision of the moral feeling of your readers and the 
public. In the meantime, however, I may take the liberty of stating, that if there 
be any of your readers capable of relishing such kind of lucubrations, they may 
blame you for having hitherto neglected to gratify their taste; while I assure 
them that I have no wish to secure their favour. The subject of ‘ Methods in 
Natural History,’ is one of very great importance to the interests of science, 
though hitherto, in this country, in a great measure disregarded. Discussions 
connected with it, and conducted in a suitable manner, could not in such cir- 
cumstances fail to be useful. Had Mr Macteay, therefore, confined his attack 
against me as one who admired the Dichotomous method and held Quinarianism 
in derision, to the merits of the respective systems, he would have received 
the satisfaction of a candid reply, as I am not aware of having published 
any opinion which I am afraid to defend, or would be ashamed to modify or 
abandon with increasing knowledge. But Mr Macteay, having laid aside the 
language of a gentleman, and violated the customary civilities of life, has com- 
pelled me, in due regard to my own character, to pass over in silence this effu- 
sion of his pen, which is probably without a parallel in the records of science. 
As Mr Vicors has thought proper to appear in connection with the publica- 
tion in question, I request him to assure his friend at Cuba that he never was 
the object of my malice or envy, but that at present he shares largely of my 
pity. 
“Before concluding, I beg to assure your scientific readers that I still adhere 
to the opinions I formerly expressed in my ‘Philosophy of Zoology,’ and more 
recently in ‘ British Animals,’ respecting the value of the Dichotomous or Binary 
method in natural history. With regard to the opinions advanced in the ‘ Quar- 
terly Review,’ | presume that the editor and his coadjutors are fully qualified to 
defend themselves, or rather that they are disposed to smile at the harmless 
abuse which Mr Macizay has thought proper to send forth against them. They 
are accustomed to witness the ‘dying struggles’ of harpooned whales. It is 
indeed their pastime.” 
In a paper read to the Wernerian Society in May 1830, he described the 
occurrence of the scales of vertebrated animals in the Old Red Sandstone of Fife- 
shire. He was thus the first to discover the remains of animal life in a forma- 
tion which prior to this period was held to be Azoic, and opened the field for 
Hue MILter, on which he earned distinguished laurels. 
In 1832 FLEMING was presented by Lord Dunpas to the pares of Clack- 
mannan, which he held until 1834, when the patrons of King’s College, Aber- 
deen, appointed him to the vacant chair of Natural Philosophy. During his 
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