of Edinburgh, Session 1862 - 63 . 
71 
on the horizon of wliich the snn was situated when the rays 
appeared. In the special case mentioned, he believed the Monts 
Dome, near Clermont, in France, to originate those rays, and he 
obtained information from various quarters tending to confirm his 
idea. From having very often conversed with M. Necker on the 
subject of his ‘‘ Eayons crepusculaires,” I know that for a number 
of years he gave this curious inquiry his close attention ; and he 
believed, I think, that from Edinburgh he could see the gigantic 
shadows of the hills of Arran and Jura. 
M. Necker was an honorary member of the Wernerian Society of 
Edinburgh, and of the G-eological Society of London. In the Pro- 
ceedings of the latter (vol. i. p. 392, Feb. 1832) is a short abstract 
of a paper by him, on the G-eological Position of Metalliferous De- 
posits. 
Eeturning now to the history of M. Necker’s later years, I may 
abridge my record of them within a brief compass. We have seen 
that he returned from Paris (where he had been printing his 
“Etudes sur les Alpes,”) in April 1841, through Edinburgh, to 
Portree, in Skye. He was there met by the grievous tidings of the 
death of the mother to whom he had been so deeply attached. This 
event occurred at Mornex, near G-eneva, on the 13th April, pre- 
cisely two days before he quitted Edinburgh. It must have been 
sudden and unexpected, or we may be sure that Necker would 
not have moved northwards had he perceived her health to be 
failing. It is easy to conceive, though we have no record of its 
details, the shock which thus fell upon the amiable recluse. 
Madame Necker was not only the dearest tie which still linked 
him to his natural home, but in losing her he lost the bene- 
ficial outlet to his sympathies which he had ever found in 
the sustained and intimate correspondence which he held with 
her, and of which the printed specimens give us so pleasing 
an impression. From this time he never again revisited his 
native country, and his habits became more and more recluse. 
For some years after his great loss he refused to see almost 
every one who, with the kindest intentions, sought to interrupt his 
solitude, and he suspended nearly all correspondence. He rambled 
occasionally over different parts of the Island of Skye, especially 
