XXV11 



Williams seems to have made fair progress in classical learning, but 

 never advanced far in this direction, his mind being interested more 

 in the natural sciences ; in after years he came to the conclusion that 

 having bad the power of directing his mind for some years to the 

 subjects he liked most was in his case productive of much good, and 

 enabled him to develop his power of originality, which might probably 

 have remained for ever latent had he undergone a rigid course of 

 training in any public school during that period of his life. The 

 writer thinks that frequently this has proved true, and that many of 

 our most original discoverers and advancers of knowledge would 

 have failed to attain great eminence had they been obliged for some 

 of the best years of their lives to pursue studies uncongenial to their 

 tastes. 



During his stay at home there is one incident in connection with 

 his amusements which may have had some influence over his future 

 acoustic studies ; he says he was very fond of birds and animals ; he 

 had his pets and used to spend a good deal of time in the poultry 

 yard, and made a special study of the language of cocks, hens, and 

 chickens, ducks and drakes, turkeys and geese, and in short of all 

 domestic animals, and having a nice ear and considerable power of 

 mimicry, he learnt their various notes, and was able to imitate them 

 well enough to influence the creatures towards him as if he had been 

 one of themselves; he remarks that "the brute utterances have all 

 their meanings, and are expressive of various feelings, whether pain 

 or pleasure, anger or love, fear or confidence, defiance or submission, 

 and are mutually intelligible among different animals as words are 

 among human beings." 



In the autumn of 1820, Dr. Williams went to Edinburgh as a 

 student of medicine, studied chemistry under Dr. Hope with much 

 pleasure, and anatomy under Professor Monro (tertius) and Dr. 

 Barclay with much less satisfaction ; he remarks that at that time the 

 teaching of anatomy was very different from what it is at present, 

 from the absence of plates and manuals ; there also he studied botany 

 during the summer, and medical jurisprudence under the late Sir 

 R. Christison. At the same time he commenced his attendance at 

 clinical lectures and hospital practice, and became a pupil and great 

 admirer of Dr. Alison, the Professor of the Institutes of Medicine. 



In the autumnal vacation, Dr. Williams returned home, the only 

 holiday he bad during the period of his medical studies, and in this 

 vacation he was not without amusing resources. He was occasionally 

 gratified by a visit to the theatre, and at different times witnessed 

 the performances of Edmund Kean, Charles Young, Macready, 

 Charles Kemble, the elder Matthews, and of Mrs. Henry Siddons, 

 Miss Stephens, and Miss Paton. 



Before leaving Edinburgh, Dr. Williams read a paper at the Royal 



