40 
MEMOIR OP DR. WALKER. 
Dr. Walker’s predecessor; and in addressing his 
explanation to the Earl, he concluded with an inge- 
nuous candour, which ought at once to have silenced 
opposition. 
“ I know your lordship has long had and still 
entertains a high regard for Dr. Walker, whose 
abilities and learning are universally acknowledged. 
I know that your lordship has likewise honoured 
me with marks of attention. You wish both of us 
to succeed in our different departments, not from 
personal considerations alone, but because your 
lordship is of opinion that from an amicable corre- 
spondence the interests of literature and of the 
public may be promoted by our mutual labours, 
which never can interfere. Instead of opposition, 
I know it to be the intention of your lordship, as 
well as of the Antiquarian Society, if a friendly 
undertanding take place, which I shall do every- 
thing in my power to procure, to communicate the 
specimens of our museum to Dr. Walker.” 
The Professor’s fears were not so easily to be 
quieted ; next year, when the Society of Antiquaries 
applied to his majesty for a royal charter, they un- 
expectedly found themselves involved in the un- 
seemly quarrel. The Senatus Academicus parti- 
cipated in their associate’s alarm, and presented a 
memorial to the late Lord Melville, then Lord Ad- 
vocate, objecting to the grant, on the ground that 
such a society would interrupt the communication of 
many specimens and subjects of natural history 
which would otherwise be deposited in the museum 
