1892 - 93 .] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
11 
his unfailing courtesy, but it is unnecessary for me to enlarge upon 
his attainments or his eminence as a man of science, as a notice of 
him will be contributed to our Proceedings by our Secretary, Pro- 
fessor Tait. 
John K. Watson was born in the year 1818. He held the 
responsible and onerous position of Manager and Treasurer of the 
Edinburgh Gas-Light Company for many years. His father had 
previously been manager for the Company. He took a deep interest 
in the proceedings of this Society, and was a man of great business 
capacity and of very genial manners. He was elected a Fellow of 
this Society in 1866, and died on 17th November 1891. 
Sir Daniel Wilson. — Daniel Wilson was born in Edinburgh in 
1816. In due course he was sent to the High School, and while 
prosecuting his studies there, indulged in rambles in and about 
Edinburgh, to Cramond, Eoslin, Preston Tower, and other places, 
and such excursions helped to form his tastes for antiquarian 
pursuits. From the High School he went to the University. 
Whilst there he took a prominent part in founding a debating 
society, which received the name of The Zetalethic, and which dealt 
with such problems as the comparative happiness of married and 
single life, and the duty of resisting tyrants. 
After leaving college, he threw himself with great earnestness 
into antiquarian pursuits. In 1847 he published his Memorials 
of Edinburgh in the Olden Time., — a work which gathers up for us 
the history, traditions, and life of old Edinburgh, and by its illustra- 
tions, many of them from his own hand, fixes the aspect of the old 
town. He was for some years secretary to the Scottish Society of 
Antiquaries. 
More important than his Memorials was his great work on the 
Arclmology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland., which appeared 
in 1851. This work will probably secure for him his most enduring 
fame. He also wrote on Cromwell, on “ Caliban, or the Missing 
Link,” on Chatterton, and on “ Lefthandedness,” besides producing 
a volume of poems. In 1853 he was appointed Professor of History 
and English Literature in the University of Toronto. In 1881 he 
succeeded Dr M‘Caul as President of the Toronto University, and 
in 1887 received the dignity of knighthood. He was elected a 
Fellow of this Society in 1875, and died on 8th August 1892. 
