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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
faith; and from the very depths of science he has proclaimed to 
the Sciolists, that there is a wisdom which is not “ Foolishness 
with God.” 
John Goodsir, a celebrated anatomist, was born at Anstruther 
in 1814, and was the eldest son of Dr Goodsir, surgeon in that 
town. After passing through the curriculum of arts at the Uni- 
versity of St Andrews, he was apprenticed to Mr Nasmyth, the 
celebrated dentist in Edinburgh. While he was going through 
the usual course of medical instruction at the University, he also 
pursued his anatomical studies under Dr Knox, and the study of 
mineralogy under Professor Jameson. After obtaining license 
from the College of Surgeons, he returned to Anstruther, to prac- 
tise medicine with his father, and in this favourable locality he 
found leisure to study the various forms of animal life which are 
so numerous in the Firth of Forth. In 1839 he published in the 
“Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal” an elaborate memoir 
on the development and structure of the human teeth, and he was 
soon after this appointed Conservator of the Museum of the College 
of Surgeons. While he held this office, but particularly in 1842 
and 1843, he delivered a series of lectures on various branches of 
anatomy and physiology. In 1840 he became a member of the 
Wernerian Society, and contributed many papers to its Memoirs. 
In 1842 he was elected a Member of this Society, and enriched 
our Transactions and Proceedings with many valuable papers. 
When Professor Monro required an assistant, Mr Goodsir was ap- 
pointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University; and when 
the chair was vacant in 1846, he was appointed to it by the Town 
Council. In this position, so favourable for research, he prepared 
an extensive series of specimens illustrative of the anatomy of the 
animal kingdom, which now constitute the most valuable part of 
the University Anatomical Museum. As a teacher he enjoyed a 
high reputation, and he had the gratification of lecturing in the 
winter session to between 300 and 400 pupils. Under such engross- 
ing studies, with which his whole time was occupied, Mr Good- 
sir’s health gave way, and he was obliged, in 1855, to seek for its 
restoration in a visit to the Continent. Though still in feeble 
health on his return to Scotland, he continued to prosecute with 
