167 
Goodsir, a few are included which were written by his 
brother Harry. Those who knew the latter knew how 
great promise he made of becoming an able coadjutor of his 
elder brother, if not a successful competitor with him for the 
highest scientific honours. He perished with Franklin in 
the ill-fated Arctic expedition. Four papers in this col- 
lection attest his power of observation, his appreciation of 
the microscope as an instrument of research, and the bent 
of his genius towards the study of comparative anatomy. 
His early death was a great loss to science. 
John Goodsir was born in 1814 at Anstruther, in Fife- 
shire, not far from Edinburgh. He was a son and grand- 
son of distinguished medical men, and was early destined for 
the medical profession. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, 
and was an anatomical pupil of the late Dr. Knox. He 
early distinguished himself by his assiduity in the study 
of anatomy, and became as a student distinguished for the 
skill with which he made models of his dissections. In the 
early part of his career he became the friend of the late 
Edward Forbes, and for many years they lodged together 
in Edinburgh, each helping the other in the walk they had 
chosen. There is scarcely an Edinburgh graduate since 
1838 up to the death of Forbes in 1854 that had not 
frequent opportunity of seeing them together. Large num- 
bers remember the flat at 21, Mid-Lothian Street, so well 
described by Dr. Lonsdale : 
“The domicle of the Goodsirs in No. 21, Lothian Street, adjacent to 
the University of Edinburgh, was approached by a public flight of stairs, 
to which six different families had access, and consisted of the half of a 
top flat or storey, with attics — rented at £17 a year! In character it 
ranked with the dwelling of petty tradesmen, and though the rooms were 
small they accommodated two or three brothers Goodsir, Edward Forbes, 
George E. Day — all very tall men, also their visitors, and a housekeeper 
or cook, and two lads who acted as anatomical assistants in the museum 
and as grooms-in-waiting at home. Man was not the sole occupant ; 
other living things — biped, quadruped, manuped, and nulliped — had their 
share in the fortunes of the household. ‘ Jacko ’ the monkey, 1 ‘ Coco ’ 
' “Jacko” was a droll customer, with a keen eye to his physical com- 
forts. Looking upwards in the scale of being, or “aping his betters,” he 
would have a vapour-bath, and in a mode that indicated neither propriety 
nor decorum- Watching his opportunity when the pot of boiling potatoes 
was removed from the fire, he used to warm his hips over the steaming 
vapours. Mr. Day, having caught him in the act, vowed he would eat no 
more potatoes unless presented in their dry jackets. After Goodsir observed 
the parasite on the gill of the haddock, Mr. Day came to have doubts as to 
the validity of fish in general ; and as haddocks and potatoes were staple 
dishes in the establishment, his gastronomic squeamishness could only be 
allayed by Goodsir’s assurance of the parasitic freedom of every fish, and 
