166 
to quit his established position in his native town, in many respects 
well suited to his tastes. 
One correspondence, which was read, laid open a singular nego- 
tiation for the sale of an Edinburgh Professorship, the most remark- 
able feature of which was, that none of the parties concerned seem 
to have had the slightest idea that they were engaged in a most im- 
proper transaction. 
Among his school correspondents whose letters have been preserv- 
ed, are to be found Dr Hope, Dr Reid, whose letters to Skene were 
printed by Sir William Hamilton in his Life of Reid, Mr Walker of 
Moffat, Lord Kaimes, &c. &c. 
Skene was an active member of the Aberdeen Philosophical So- 
ciety, where he read many papers on a great variety of subjects ; 
and he was also a member of a Musical Society. In 1769 he was 
admitted a member of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society, but did 
not contribute any papers. 
He died in December 1770, at the early age of 38. He left 
behind him a very considerable quantity of MSS., embracing, in 
one form or other, most branches of human knowledge ; and the 
catalogue of his library proves him to have been a very accomplished 
general scholar. 
Several volumes of these papers were laid on the table; the most im- 
portant of which were three volumes of botanical, zoological, and ento- 
mological descriptions ; and one containing a “Discourse on the Study 
of Natural History,” on which he had bestowed much pains, as several 
copies have been found among his papers, in various stages of progress. 
Few of his papers are dated, so that it is not easy from them to 
trace his progress ; but much of his knowledge must have been ac- 
quired before the commencement of his scientific correspondence, 
which extends only over the last three or four years of his life. His 
letters show that he possessed one characteristic of a true naturalist, 
viz., his willingness to communicate to others whatever facts he 
had ascertained, and whatever specimens he could collect. Though 
his early death prevented his publishing, it is very clear that he con- 
templated the preparation of a complete Fauna and Flora of his own 
neighbourhood, if not of the whole of Scotland ; and it is impossible 
to say how much natural science in Scotland may have been indebted 
to him, from the impulse he communicated to all with whom he 
came in contact. 
