1890 - 91 .] 
Chairman's Opening Address. 
5 
excel, and few equal, Dr Grant in the often troublesome task of 
proposing or replying to a toast, and consequently he was often 
called on to perform such duties. A notable instance of this lives 
in the memory of the present writer. It was on the occasion of a 
dinner to Professor Syme, when, in the unexpected absence of some- 
one who had undertaken the duty, Dr Grant was abruptly called on 
to propose the toast of the Royal Infirmary, which he did in such 
appropriate and elegant terms that his was decidedly voted to he 
the speech of the evening. 
Besides being an earnest parish minister, and a zealous promoter 
of education and of all measures for improving the condition of the 
poor, Dr Grant took a prominent part, and had great influence, in 
the Councils of the Church of Scotland. Though always ready to 
co-operate in matters of philanthropy with the brethren of other 
denominations, his strong ecclesiastical conservatism led him to 
become a powerful opponent of those of whose Church politics he 
did not approve. In the stormy predisruption times, which culmin- 
ated in the great secession of 1843, Dr Grant was generally to be 
found in the front of the battle. He sympathised with the Presby- 
tery of Strathbogie, who set at defiance the injunctions of the General 
Assembly, and was along with others put under discipline ; but the 
chief result of this was his receiving an address from the Town 
Council of Leith, which was signed by many, it is said by thousands, 
of members of the Church of Scotland, approving of his action. 
That he retained the esteem of the Church was evidenced in 1854 
when he received, as his father had in 1809, the highest ecclesiastical 
distinction which could be conferred on him, in his elevation to the 
Moderatorship of the General Assembly. 
Dr Grant received the degree of D.D. from the Presbytery of 
Glasgow, and in the year of his Moderatorship Oxford bestowed on 
him the distinction of D.C.L. 
Dr Grant became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851. He 
is to be reckoned as having belonged to the class of literary Fellows, 
but he was for long a regular attender at the meetings when scien- 
tific subjects were under discussion; and when from his advanced 
age it became unsuitable for him to go out in the evening, he even 
during his last year made his appearance at the Extraordinary 
Meetings which took place in the afternoon. 
