xix 



But the effect of Dr. Sharpey's teaching upon a large number of 

 pupils did not proceed alone from the superiority of the information 

 conveyed, or the implicit reliance which his pupils placed in the fulness, 

 accuracy, and truthfulness of the statements of their teacher, but it 

 was also due to, and greatly enhanced by, the feeling of friendly 

 attachment, and even of filial affection amounting to reverence, which 

 was inspired in the minds of the pupils by his uniform kindness, 

 justice, and candour. 



In the other public offices held by Dr. Sharpey during the greater 

 part of the time of his residence in London, the superior qualities of 

 his mind had equal scope in conducing to the efficiency and usefulness 

 of his services. As an examiner in the University of London and 

 afterwards as a member of the Senate, as Secretary of the Royal 

 Society, as Member of the General Medical Council, as one of the 

 Science Commissioners and a trustee of the Hunterian Museum, his 

 extensive knowledge, unbiassed judgment, and strict impartiality, 

 while they gave weight to his opinions and suggestions, aided largely 

 in the promotion of measures favourable to the interests of science and 

 the public good. 



Of the more private features of Dr. Sharpey's life and character it 

 is difficult for those who have been most intimate with him to express 

 their estimate in sufficiently moderate terms. While he was universally 

 admired for the extent and accuracy of his acquirements and respected 

 for the soundness of his judgment, he was not less esteemed and 

 beloved for the gentleness of his disposition, the kindness of his heart, 

 and the geniality of his nature. His powers of memory, naturally 

 good, were carefully cultivated by the systematic turn of his mind 

 and strengthened by exercise. His friends remember with delight 

 the readiness with which, in the course of conversation, he could 

 call up a desiderated quotation, or supply a fact on some doubtful 

 point in history, philosophy, or science, or tell humorously some anec- 

 dote which was equally apposite and amusing. He had not a single 

 enemy, and he numbered among his friends all those who ever had the 

 advantage of being in his society. 



John Stenhouse, the son of William Stenhouse and Elizabeth 

 Currie, his wife, was born at Glasgow, 21st October, 1809, and 

 educated first at the Grammar School, and subsequently at Glasgow 

 University, where he studied from 1824 to 1828. 



His tastes in early life were more literary than scientific, but owing 

 to weak eyesight he was obliged to give up literature as a pursuit, 

 and devoted himself to Chemistry, which he studied under Professor 

 Graham and Dr. Thomas Thomson. His training in this science was 

 first acquired at the Andersonian University, now Anderson's College, 

 Glasgow, and it was probably on this account he always took such a 



