188 Proceedings of the Boyal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
scientific publications. Amongst the most important of these contributions, 
in addition to researches founded on his thesis on the Calabar bean, were 
a series of papers in which he was associated with Professor Crum Brown, 
“ On the Connection between Chemical Constitution and Physiological 
Action,” which in many respects formed the basis of much of the work 
which was done in the production of new drugs in the following fifty 
years, and which are still of outstanding importance. They were early 
recognised as epoch-making, and received recognition by the award of the 
Makdougall Brisbane Prize by the Boyal Society of Edinburgh in 1868 . 
During the same time he published papers on the “ Antagonism between 
the Actions of Physostigma and Belladonna,” thus showing how the 
opposing actions of their active principles could be made to fulfil the 
century-old desideratum of Goethe for drugs which would precisely neutral- 
ise each other’s action. During the same time he also published a short 
investigation in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology on the effects of 
rowing on the circulation, which emphasises the fact that he was always 
a keen supporter and at one time a member of the Edinburgh University 
Boat Club. Although latterly his health prevented his taking any 
practical share in the work, he never lost his interest in the club, and 
was alwa}^s its loyal supporter in every difficulty. 
It was striking to note, in the case of so young a man as Dr Fraser was 
when he applied for the chair, how many of the leaders in pharmacology 
throughout the whole Continent knew him by his work and were sup- 
porters of his candidature. No fewer than five eminent French professors, 
including Dujardin-Beaumetz and Paul Bert, were reckoned amongst their 
number, whilst eleven German and three American teachers also warmly 
supported his claims, giving him strongly worded testimonials. It is only 
necessary as an illustration to quote the last paragraph of the testimonial 
which he received from Schmiedeberg, who was then the illustrious pro- 
fessor of pharmacology in Strasbourg : “ It would be superfluous for me to 
enter into further details concerning your successful scientific career ; not 
only in your own department, but in still wider circles, it is sufficiently 
known and it is valued and esteemed by all. I have thus always been of 
the opinion that no one is so worthy of the honour of being Sir Robert 
Christison’s successor as you, most honoured colleague, for you are already 
his intellectual successor. In the interest of that science which I also have 
the honour to represent, it is my sincere wish that you may be successful 
in obtaining this chair, so that you may be in a position to enrich, as 
heretofore, the sciences of materia medica and toxicology by new observa- 
tions and discoveries.” To those who know how careful Schmiedeberg 
