Obituary Notices. 
xix 
or not. You may send word in your next letter. I understand wliat you 
mean by some of your work ; it was a cissoid. I intend to come at New 
Year, if I get play for a week, if Father consents. Excuse my letter, being 
the first I have written. — I am, dear David, your affectionate brother, 
(Signed) “Edward Sang.” 
Here we have a hoy eleven years of age — an age at which many 
boys are scarcely out of the nursery — getting a prize for his pro- 
gress in the higher class of mathematics, and evidently busy with 
mechanics, astronomy, French, and Latin. Continuing liis school 
life, and no doubt working hard, he obtained another prize in 1817, 
on which was inscribed : — 
“ This book was presented to Edward Sang by the Patrons of the Kirkcaldy 
Subscription School as a reward for his diligence, and a testimony of his 
success in the study of Mathematics during the Session that closed this day, 
the 1st November 1817. (Signed) “ Edward Irving.” 
The book was Legendre’s Elements de Geometrie. The boy was 
then twelve years of age. Before leaving the story of his school 
life, a short extract from a letter written by the Rev. Dr Martin a 
number of years after may be read. He says : — “ Mr Edward 
Sang has been known to me from his infancy. He began very 
early to show an uncommon inclination toward mathematical 
science, and a peculiar aptness for it. As an amateur of that 
science, I had my attention drawn to his talent for it while he 
was, with some of my own family, a pupil in an academy in this 
town in which mathematics were then taught with remarkable 
success. I still remember the surprise excited by the acute and 
comprehensive solutions he gave of the problems, theorems, and 
questions presented to his class.” 
The Subscription School was broken up in 1818, and in the first 
year of his teens the boy joined the University of Edinburgh under 
Professor Leslie, and had to take the second class for mathematics, 
there being no third or advanced class for that session. He was 
small for his age, and on his appearance in the class-room he was 
greeted with laughter by his fellow-students, big fellows, who no 
doubt wondered what such a youngster was to do in such a class. 
But the laughter soon gave place to surprise and admiration. Next 
session there was still no advanced class, and he had again to take 
the second mathematical class, under Professor Wallace. During 
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