408 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
He regularly attended our meetings, and was much esteemed by his 
friends and fellow-citizens. 
Many amongst us will remember the portly presence and genial 
manner of Patrick Don Swan, who was provost of Kirkcaldy 
continuously from 1842 to 1886. The celebrated Thomas Carlyle 
assisted him as tutor in his early life : the friendship of tutor and 
scholar was unbroken to the last. During the provostship of Mr 
Swan, Kirkcaldy became prosperous largely through his efforts, and 
he will long be remembered there for the civic improvements he did 
so much to effect, and for his munificence to the poor. He died on 
the 17th December 1889. 
It will not be necessary for me to say anything further regarding 
our much esteemed associate Dr Andrew Graham, as an obituary 
notice of him has already been communicated to the Society. 
James Leslie was educated at the University of Edinburgh, his 
uncle Sir John Leslie being then professor of mathematics there. 
It would occupy too much time even to enumerate the various 
engineering works with which he was connected. These consisted 
chiefly in the construction of docks, in increasing the water supply 
of cities, and in fixing the limits of estuaries. Among his other 
undertakings, he designed a plan for the Monkland Canal, by which 
empty boats could be conveyed by an inclined plane instead of 
through locks. This ingenious expedient, which foreshadowed the 
ship railway, has been much admired by engineers. He was a 
liberal subscriber to every public purpose. He died on 29th 
December 1889. 
The career of Dr James Lorimer is too well known to render 
it necessary for me to do more than briefly advert to it here. 
After studying at the universities of Edinburgh, Geneva, Berlin, 
and Bonn, he was called to the bar of Scotland in 1845, and was 
appointed successively to the Principal Lyon Clerkship and to the 
Chair of Public Law in the University of Edinburgh. His principal 
works are the Institutes of Laic, which has been translated into 
Erench and Spanish ; and his Institutes of the Law of Nations. He 
was the only Scottish Professor to whom the high distinction of an 
