20 
MEMOIR OF 
which are prescribed as the necessary prepara- 
tions for entering upon the study of theology ; 
and, in 1760, entered into a society, established 
for mutual improvement among the young men 
attending the College, to which they gave the name 
of the Newtonian Society. About the same time 
he commenced forming a collection of indigenous 
plants, which he arranged into a Hortus Siccus, and 
presented to Dr Hope, the professor of botany ; 
he subsequently competed for, and gained the 
honorary gold medal given by the professor for 
the best botanical dissertation, the substance of 
which he afterwards published in the first volume 
of his Philosophy of Natural History. 
His progress in the study of Botany was so 
great, that Dr Hope, meeting with an accident, 
which prevented him for some time from lecturing 
to his class, selected Mr Smellie as the fittest person 
to carry on the lectures to the students during 
his own necessary absence, and ever after 
honoured him with his friendship. Various 
literary schemes appear to have floated through 
his mind at different times ; and frequent thoughts 
of pursuing the study of divinity or medicine — in 
the midst of which he fell in love. The following 
letter to his friend, the late Rev. Dr Charters of 
Wilton, Roxburghshire, will explain his views at 
this time. 
