28 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
cuted in its early life, has acquired a greater popularity, and reached 
a higher circulation than any of our Scottish journals. The first 
number was published on the 25th January 1817, and, speaking 
generally, Mr Maclaren had the honour of being its Editor till the 
year 1847, when he resigned it into the hands of its present able 
conductor. Thus freed from the labours and anxieties of a public 
journalist, Mr Maclaren was able to devote his whole time to his 
favourite studies. He made numerous geological excursions to 
different parts of Scotland, acquiring that accurate knowledge of the 
science which he displayed in his later works. 
Having taken a great interest in the speculations respecting the 
Plain of Troy as described in the Iliad, he published in 1822 a 
dissertation on its topography; and in 1847 he visited the locality 
'itself, and acquired that thorough knowledge of the subject, which 
he communicated to the public in 1863, under the title of “ The 
Plain of Troy Described, and the identity of the Ilium of Homer, 
with the new Ilium of Strabo proved, by comparing the poet’s nar- 
rative with its present Topography.” The views contained in this 
able and interesting work have been fully adopted by the most 
distinguished scholars in this country and on the continent. 
Among his numerous geological writings which have appeared in 
the Scotsman and in other journals, the most important is his 
“ Geology of Fife and the Lothians,” which appeared in 1839. It 
contains a description of the wide valley stretching from the Ochils 
on the North to the Lammermuirs on the South, and fully estab- 
lished Mr Maclaren’s reputation as a geologist.* 
Among the more prominent points in Mr Maclaren’s character, 
was his remarkable sagacity, and his faith in the power and progress 
of science, a quality not often possessed by its cultivators. His 
sagacity was strikingly displayed in predicting the great destiny of 
the American Republic, a sentiment which he drew from his know- 
ledge of the politics and statistics of that great and prosperous 
nation. The article on America, in the “ Encyclopaedia Britannica,” 
was from his pen, and also the article on Troy, in which he describes 
the interesting results to which we have already referred. 
His sagacity was no less displayed, and his faith in science too, 
* A recent edition, with corrections and additions by the Author, has just 
been published. 
