278 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. [Sess. 
John Sturgeon Mackay, M.A., LL.D. By George Philip, M.A., D.Sc. 
(Read July 6, 1914.) 
The task which the Society has entrusted to me of putting on record some 
suitable memorial of the life and work of Dr John S. Mackay is one which 
I feel honoured in undertaking. At the same time I am conscious of my 
own limitations in attempting to give to the scientific world a biographical 
notice of one who was rightly looked on as one of the most learned men of 
the day, and who possessed all the graces which a well-stored mind can 
bestow, along with those subtle and ingratiating qualities of the heart 
which cast such a magnetic influence on all who were privileged to know 
him. Dr Mackay was, in very truth, the beau ideal of a scholar and a 
gentleman, and death has removed from the circle of his friends one who 
will long be missed. His death took place at his residence, 69 North- 
umberland Street, Edinburgh, on March 25 of this year. 
John Sturgeon Mackay was born at the village of Auchencairn, Kirk- 
cudbrightshire, on October 22, 1843, so that at the time of his death he was 
in his seventy-first year. While he was yet an infant, his parents removed 
to Perth, and there he spent his boyhood and received his early education. 
At Perth Academy he showed that aptitude for learning which later 
brought him great distinction, and it is well to note here that his preliminary 
education laid the foundation of both his linguistic and mathematical 
studies. The biographer of the late Professor Chrystal in the Society’s 
Proceedings makes a similar remark ; so that we have these two con- 
spicuous instances at least of men who combined mathematical with 
classical or linguistic talent. One would fain recall here the advice given 
by Lagrange to Cauchy’s father when consulted by him as to the proper 
education for his boy : “ Do not allow your son to open a mathematical 
book nor to touch a single diagram until he has finished his classical 
studies.” To the end Dr Mackay was a strenuous supporter of the old- 
fashioned classical education, and never ceased to deplore the modern trend 
of early specialisation, holding that preliminary education ought to be 
devoted to the cultivation of all the faculties, and not to the development 
of any one at the expense of the others. 
After a school career that gave great promise of later distinction, 
Dr Mackay proceeded to St Andrews University, where he followed the 
