of Edinburgh, Session 1874 - 75 . 
465 
scientific investigations, which were fearlessly and searchingly con- 
ducted, he never lost sight of those great principles that connect 
the works of the Deity with His personal existence and moral per- 
fections. Many entries in his private memoranda show his fidelity 
to these feelings, and prove that he shared with his friend Brewster 
the reverence for a Supreme Power which that distinguished man 
always evinced in the prosecution of his varied inquiries. Mr 
Deas’s reading on sacred subjects seems to have been much in the 
Book of Psalms, a book which has proved a treasure and a favourite 
study with all the devout admirers of nature ; and he often 
expresses in his memoranda how much the admiration felt by the 
authors of that book for the works of the Creator would have been 
exalted and enhanced, instead of being deadened or destroyed, by 
the new wonders revealed through the aid of scientific instruments. 
It was not only to professional and scientific subjects that he 
directed his attention. He had, I think, a genius for music, and 
performed on the pianoforte with perfect taste and with a degree of 
skill that was scarcely to be expected from an amateur who had 
so many other avocations and pursuits of a more urgent and en- 
grossing nature. He was also fond of sculpture and painting, and 
his friend, Sir Noel Paton, seemed to have pleasure in sending him 
his paintings before they were despatched to London, at a time 
when Mr Deas was, from illness, unable to leave the house. 
After what I have said, I think I may confidently claim your 
sympathy with me in this tribute to the memory of a young man 
for whom, when he was in life, I felt a strong esteem and regard, 
in whose sad fate I saw a great private and public loss, and whose 
memory, I think, is entitled to our affectionate remembrance. 
Looking to his natural talents and tastes, to the assiduous cultiva- 
tion that he bestowed upon them, to the variety of subjects to 
which his studies extended, and to the high and sound principles 
with which his mind was imbued, I venture to say, that I know of 
no young man who, if he had lived and had preserved a sufficient 
measure of health, was more likely to extend the range and 
maintain the dignity of science, as well as of mental culture 
generally, while at the same time I cannot help adding, and 
there is a satisfaction even in this feeling, that I know of no one 
who, from the innocence of his character and from the purity of 
