356 
whose courage and ability have built up the colossal fabric of our 
Indian empire. So far as active service is concerned, he was a yet 
earlier companion in arms of the great Duke than Sir Thomas 
Brisbane. Alternately acting as soldier and civilian, as in the earlier 
days of the “ Company” all her great servants occasionally did, he 
took an active part in the campaign which founded the fame of 
Arthur Wellesley, and, to use the striking words of Lord Ellen- 
borough on a late occasion, “ He saw on the field of Assaye the 
promise of the field of Waterloo.” 
Mountstuart Elphinstone has, however, a higher claim on the 
grateful recollection of his country. When war had done its work, 
and the time had come for governing the people who had been con- 
quered, his powers of administration were as conspicuous as his 
courage in the field. By the universal consent of all who know the 
history of our Indian empire, he is regarded as one of the very 
greatest of those whose wisdom and virtue have tended to reconcile 
its people to British rule, and have founded those traditions of 
government which, modified more or less by the progress of events, 
must continue in the main to be the guide, not only of us in India, 
but of all nations who undertake the difficult and responsible duty 
of ruling other nations, different from themselves in race, language, 
and religion. 
GeorgeBuist, LL.D.,F.B.S.S. L.andE., and G.S., another recently 
deceased fellow of the Society, was born at Tannadice in the year 
1805. His father having been minister of that parish, which is in 
the presbytery of Forfar, Dr Buist was educated at St Andrews, 
and studied divinity for the purpose of becoming a minister of the 
Church of Scotland ; but, though licensed to be a preacher, he never 
was ordained as a minister of the Church. He cultivated with assi- 
duity the study of science, especially in its bearings on natural 
history and geology, founded a provincial society for its prosecution, 
and gained the prize offered by the Highland and Agricultural 
Society for an account of the Geology of Perthshire, which is pub- 
lished in the Transactions of that Society. During his residence in 
India he contributed many papers of interest to the scientific 
societies of that country. In addition to these, he also published 
papers of interest on its antiquities and history. Many important 
public w r orks enjoyed much benefit from liis active co-operation. 
Among these may be mentioned the establishment at Bombay of an 
