464 Proceedings of tne Royal Society 
scientific tastes and feelings of curiosity were elicited at every step. 
It seems to be uncertain whether his health truly profited by this 
experiment. He appears to have doubted it himself ; yet on arriving 
in London in June 1871, he wrote that there had been a marked 
change for the better ever since he recrossed the Alps, and that he 
was now so well that he wished to resume business. He returned to 
Edinburgh accordingly, and did resume business, but without 
attending the Parliament House. Upon putting out of hand his 
book on u Master and Servant, ” Mr Deas bad commenced another 
work of a still more arduous kind, on the “ Law of Railways, ” and 
to this he now applied himself as a professional task. 
In February 1872 he again, by advice, went abroad, spending 
his time partly at Florence, but chiefly at Rome, still attending to 
all objects of interest, but at the same time continuing even there 
the progress of his book on Railways. He returned home in June 
of that year, perseveringly completed his book, and published it in 
January 1873. He very fittingly dedicated the work to his father, 
Lord Deas, “ alike as a token of filial regard, and as a tribute to 
his acknowledged eminence as a lawyer.” The book was received 
with great approbation, it evinces a wonderful degree of industry 
and energy, and cannot fail to be eminently useful to the profes- 
sion, as many competent judges have gladly acknowledged. 
In the narrative given above I have not said much of Mr 
Deas’s scientific tendencies; but these, from the first, were very 
strong and decided. I have mentioned, the opinion of Sir David 
Brewster as to the combination of qualities, which seemed pecu- 
liarly to fit him for scientific research, and his application to 
scientific subjects was constantly kept up. His reading was exten- 
sive in all the best books on science, and he contributed papers 
which were considered valuable to the best scientific periodicals of 
the day. He devoted a good deal of time to the study of optics, 
and had considerable practice in the use of the telescope ; but was 
still more interested in microscopic investigations, in connection 
with which he amassed an extensive collection of objects for that 
instrument, nearly all prepared by himself, and accumulated during 
many years, wherever he travelled or happened to be. 
It is to me a pleasant thing to record, and it must have been to 
his friends a great consolation to know, that in the midst of these 
