72 Proceedings oj the Royal Society 
amongst the Cuchullin Hills, and in the environs of Portree and 
the Storr. But gradually he ceased to absent himself even for a 
night from home, and confined his excursions within the distance 
which his pedestrian powers allowed. Once in two or three years, 
as other engagements permitted, I visited Skye about this period, 
for the purpose of ascertaining his condition, and of offering such 
sympathy as he was willing to receive. My friendly overtures were 
rarely if ever repulsed ; and though it was painful to witness the 
isolation and depression of a person so cultivated and so amiable, 
there were always intervals in which his old spirits and old inte- 
rests awoke out of the partial torpor induced by his enfeebled 
health and monotonous life. Scarcely a day passed during any 
one of my visits in which we did not walk together to some of the 
charming localities near Portree, and discuss with renewed interest 
the scientific problems which his intelligence and quick observa- 
tion were ever unfolding, whether from the noblest natural object, 
or the most trivial daily occurrence, in his neighbourhood. It was 
evidently agreeable to him, even in his sadder moments, to use and 
listen to his native language, to recall the scenery of his glorious 
Alps, the achievements and writings of his eminent grandfather, 
the memory of his accomplished mother, and the cherished reminis- 
cences of his early life in Edinburgh. Nothing was more sur- 
prising than to find how few passing events of either public or 
domestic interest escaped him in his apparent isolation, from' which 
even correspondence was at times almost banished. At this period, 
however, he read the newspapers with great perseverance, and he 
seemed never to forget anything that he once read, or to fail in 
connecting it with what he had previously known. I used to be 
amazed to find that he occasionally knew more of what was hap- 
pening in Edinburgh than I myself did ; and he tracked with an 
unfailing instinct the changes which time rapidly produced in the 
wide connections of his early Scottish friends, many of whom very 
erroneously believed that he had quite forgotten them. His 
periodical reading at this time embraced the Journal des Debats, 
the Caledonian Mercury, and the John O' Groat Journal (a Caith- 
ness paper) ; and from this singular library he managed to ex- 
tract a wonderful amount of current information, not only public 
and domestic, but also concerning physical events and changes. 
