XX111 



Shortly after coming to Glasgow, his son and only child was born 

 in 1849. -After that he took Greenhall in 1852. about eight miles 

 from Glasgow, and afterwards Millheugh, where, as he always had a 

 great love of country life, he betook himself in the autumnal holidays, 

 hospitably entertaining his many guests. Dr. Sharpey paid him 

 regular summer visits. In 1855 came the meeting of the British 

 Association in Glasgow, and among the guests then with him were 

 his friends, Professor Kolliker of Wurzburg and Professors Retzius 

 and Broberg from Sweden. In 1857 he rented Hatton House near 

 Ratho, some miles from Edinburgh, and took great interest in this old 

 place. There he became acquainted with the Lauderdale family to 

 whom the property originally belonged, and there he received his old 

 Edinburgh friends, Syme, Bennett, Christison, Douglas Maclagan, 

 Andrew Wood, Sharpey, and Kolliker. He took much interest in the 

 garden and in garden work, and his acquaintance with Mr. Archer the 

 artist, brought him into the pursuit of photography, which gave him 

 a new pleasure. 



In 1862 he left Hatton, having purchased some acres of ground at 

 Skelmorlie on the Clyde, where he built a house in accordance with 

 his own plans. The la.ter editions of Quain's ' Anatomy ' were written 

 here with Dr. Sharpey during the summer months ; and here he also 

 enjoyed his leisure moments with his friend Professor Kolliker, in the 

 examination of marine animals. 



About this time the work commenced with the New University of 

 Glasgow buildings, and from 1863, when the old college buildings 

 were at last disposed of to a railway company, until 1870, when the 

 classes met for the first time in the new buildings on Gilmorehill, 

 Allen Thomson, as Chairman of Buildings Committee, was largely 

 occupied with the anxieties and plans of the undertaking. He 

 did all the duty of a "Master of Works," and his frequent exposure 

 during the erection of the building brought on a tendency to rheuma- 

 tism with a severe attack of sciatica. He further took a similarly 

 active part in the planning and erection of the new — the Western 

 Infirmary of Glasgow, the funds for which were mainly contributed 

 by public subscription. This hospital is generally considered to be a 

 model hospital. It has recently been greatly enlarged on the original 

 plan ; and when Dr. Thomson retired from the Chair of Anatomy in 

 1877, he had already realised the pleasure of seeing the great success 

 of the Glasgow Medical School which he had done so much to 

 develop. 



In 1870 he ceased to live at Skelmorlie, which he let and afterwards 

 sold; and in 1871 his only son, John Millar Thomson, settled in 

 London as one of the assistant demonstrators on chemistry at King's 

 College. The summer of this year was spent with his son and 

 Mrs. Thomson in the Highlands of Scotland. " It was," he writes in 



