xliv Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
varied topics, and still more of doing justice to the personal 
qualities of the man, within the space usually allotted to such a 
notice, increases the hesitation I have felt in complying with the 
wish of the Society that I should undertake the task ; and, in so 
far as I owe this honour to my intimate friendship with Henry 
Yule, I am not reassured when I recall the many eminent and 
representative men with whom I shared that privilege. 
The youngest son of Major William Yule of the Indian Army 
(himself a devoted student of Oriental literature), Henry Yule was 
born at Inveresk on the 1st May 1820. The family had for 
many generations previously held a leading place among the 
well-to-do farmers of East Lothian, being settled in the parish of 
Dirleton, where they also owned some land ; and many of them lie 
buried in the old church of Gullane, The subject of this memoir 
had two brothers, who both distinguished themselves in India — Sir 
George, a very able and popular civilian, and Robert, who fell 
fighting at the head of his regiment, the 9th Lancers, before Delhi, 
during the Mutiny. The family is said to be of Danish origin, 
the name, spelled Jul, or Juul, being still not uncommon at 
Copenhagen. 
Henry Yule was at first intended for Cambridge, and probably 
for the Law, for after leaving Edinburgh he was placed successively 
under two mathematical tutors — Hamilton, author of Conic 
Sections and subsequently Dean of Salisbury, and Challis, after- 
wards Plumerian Professor at Cambridge. His fellow-pupils here 
were the late Rev. Dr John Mason Neale, and Dr Harvey Good- 
win, the present Bishop of Carlisle. The latter, to whose kindness 
I am indebted for these reminiscences, says that Yule “ showed 
much more liking for Greek plays and for German than for mathe- 
matics, though he had considerable geometrical ingenuity.” That 
he had this seems, indeed, pretty clear from the fact that on one 
occasion he solved a problem which had puzzled the future accom- 
plished mathematician who tells the story. Yule’s comment on the 
matter, addressed to Goodwin, being — “ The difference between you 
and me is this, you like it and can’t do it ; I don’t like it and 
can do it.” He added “ Neale neither likes it, nor can do it.” 
His having to leave Mr Challis, who could no longer accom- 
modate him as a pupil on removing to Cambridge, may have led 
