110 PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY [cm v. 
“ I have been honest and sincere in my 
endeavour to promote the truth. With death 
apparently not distant before my eyes, I am 
pleased to think I have not countenanced error 
through fear or favour. Neither have I in any 
case modified my sentiments so as to endeavour 
thereby to conceal or palliate my faults.” 
That “ Conclusion ” forms a most touching 
“ Finis ” to all his life’s labours. It shows that he 
then realised, in quiet, self-possessed consciousness, 
that the end of his life’s work was near, while his 
unquenchable love of truth and profoundly reveren¬ 
tial recognition of the Creator of all that organic 
life which formed the subject of his untiring 
investigations—come prominently out in it. That 
conclusion is given as the final extract from his 
works in this volume, and as the most appropriate 
ending to it. 
It is difficult now to realise what Professor 
MacGillivray’s loss to natural science was then felt 
to be—the loss of “ the most eminent ornithologist 
in Europe,” as he has been designated. The loss, 
too, of a man who was so devout, so generous, so 
self-denying, so warm-hearted, so painstaking, so 
energetic, and so conscientious in the discharge of 
duty, and in the carrying out of any purpose to 
which he felt he had a call—who can tell what 
that loss was except those who had the privilege of 
personal relationship with him as scientists or as 
friends, or as members of his own bereaved family ! 
He had thirteen children, several of whom died 
