281 
of Edinburgh, Stssio7i 1870-71. 
Perhaps the leading qualities of Syme’s character, and which 
ensured his success in life, were clearness of perception, fearless 
honesty of purpose, and strength of will. He was always able to 
see clearly the point at which to aim, and by steadiness both of 
eye and hand, to reach it, in spite of obstacles and difficulties 
which would have made most other men flinch. Self-reliance 
was liis chief stepping-stone to fame, — the honourable fame of 
having greatly advanced the science which tends to save life and 
limb, and also to assuage human suffering. 
III. I come now to the third head, which is to offer . a few sug- 
gestions for increasing the efficiency of our Society. 
Under this head there are two points which demand attention. 
ls£. Can our present arrangements he improved ? 
2d. Are there any drawbacks which can be counteracted ? 
(1.) In regard to our present arrangements for carrying on the 
Society’s business, the most important is undoubtedly the publica- 
tion of papers in our Proceedings and Transactions. Its import- 
ance cannot well be over-estimated. Probably but for this mode of 
recording discoveries, speculations, and inventions, and also of pub- 
lishing them, half of these would never have become known to 
the world. It is no disparagement to the papers which appear in 
our Proceedings and Transactions to say of them, that to only one 
person out of a thousand are they of any interest, and therefore 
that they would not be read, and would not pay to be published by 
the authors at their own expense. But next to the pleasure of 
effecting discovery, is that of making known the discovery to others. 
This last pleasure can therefore in many cases be obtained only 
through means of societies like ours. But there is another and a 
separate good done : not only are investigators stimulated, but 
when the results of their investigations become widely known, 
these often suggest new views to other inquirers, who make use 
of these published results as stepping-stones for overcoming some 
difficulty which had obstructed their own inquiries. In that 
way, also, men of science and literature in different countries 
become acquainted, so as to aid one another in their respective 
labours. 
I have surely said enough to show how useful these publications 
