1921-22.] Obituary Notices. 373 
his class in the winter session of the year 1888-89. Scottish students 
have a sure instinct for estimating the character and capacity of their 
professors, and in neither did they find John Rankine wanting. He 
quickly established the best relations with his large class, and continued 
to the end respected, nay, indeed revered, by them. Their relations were 
not confined to the bare walls of the lecture-room, but extended to much 
personal intercourse and kindly interest in their prospects. In the course 
of the thirty-four years during which he held the chair, most lawyers 
now in practice in the south-east of Scotland, and many others, passed 
through his hands ; and few, if any, do not look back upon his lectures 
as their first illumination of the great fabric of Scots Law. 
The establishment of John Rankine in the Chair of Scots Law 
practically opened the way to a wholly new sphere of activity. His 
interests were not so much transferred from the Parliament House to the 
University as that the transfer to the University opened new interests 
on parallel lines. The new Professor at once entered heart and soul into 
the general work of the University, and with it into the care and support 
of other institutions in Edinburgh to which his position in the University 
gave him access. In 1889, as the representative of the Senatus of the 
University of Edinburgh, he was sent to the Board of Management of 
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and either as representing the Senatus or 
the Faculty of Advocates he remained till the end an active member of 
this Board. He took his work on that Board as no sinecure, but gave 
unremitting attention to all that concerned it, acting frequently as con- 
vener of the finance and other important committees. The value of the 
work which he did for this and kindred institutions was greatly enhanced 
by the experience which he obtained as a director of the Commercial Bank 
of Scotland, a position which he held from 1887 till the day of his death. 
He was also the representative of the Senatus on the Board of 
Management of the Students’ Union, an institution in which he took 
the greatest interest. 
He represented the University Court on the Board of Management 
of the Dick Veterinary College. 
But the piece of public work with which his name will always be 
most associated did not directly emanate from his position in the 
University, for his co-option to the Board of Management of the Royal 
Edinburgh Asylum occurred in 1887, the year before he became Professor. 
It was at that date that the remodelling and extension of the Asylum 
was becoming a pressing question. It was evident that, if it was to fulfil 
its functions, a very large work of extension must be undertaken. But 
