Obituary Notices. 
XXI 
the nomination, he wrote : — “ I need hardly say that I regard the 
appointment of President of that Society (the Koyal Society of Edin- 
burgh) as one of the greatest honours that can be bestowed on any 
Scotchman in Scotland, and I therefore appreciate the kindness of 
the Society in proposing to place me in a position of such importance. 
But I cannot help feeling, and the feeling grows stronger the longer 
I consider the matter, that it is a position for which I am in no way 
adequately qualified. Though a Fellow of the Koyal Society, I have 
never hitherto taken any part in its proceedings, and at my time of 
life, with my judicial work, I cannot look forward to do so in the 
future. This might be of less importance if I were personally 
distinguished either by scientific acquirements or literary work. 
But you know as well as I do that of physical science I know next 
to nothing, and that a laborious professional life has left me no time 
for courting the Muses.” 
In a similar modest spirit, and with the knowledge of himself 
which has been deemed not the least difficult attainment of a philo- 
sopher, when solicited by a literary society to deliver a lecture he 
replied to its representatives : — “ Do you know, gentlemen, that I 
have actually ventured to write my own epitaph, and that it runs, 
‘ Here lies a man who has never given a lecture.’ ” 
Although he did not take part in the proceedings of the Royal 
Society, the letter quoted shows his sense of its importance to the 
intellectual life of Scotland, and as an instrument for the advance of 
knowledge. He gave the Society the benefit of his influence in 
procuring an extension of its rooms, and a few weeks before his 
death visited its premises to inform himself how the much-needed 
space could be secured for its rapidly-increasing scientific library. 
Without being the least of a bookish man, he had a keen interest in 
libraries, and in rare and good books. So, without being either a 
scientific or a literary man, he appreciated and, on proper occa- 
sions, expressed his appreciation of the inventions and discoveries 
which during his lifetime enlarged the bounds of the physical or 
material sciences, as well as of the contributions to literature and 
philosophy, which have combined to make the Victorian as marked 
an era as the Elizabethan in the annals of thought. At a time 
when there was a risk that the absorbing cares of professional 
and mercantile pursuits and the rapid acquisition of wealth might 
