<r r VM 742*2. >jwi M E M O I R GEORGE WILSON M.D. F.R.S.E. cgiHS Professor of Technology in the University of Edinburgh, and Director of the Industrial Mnscnin of Scotland. B V HIS SISTER. n Wi\S&^ \ A NKW CO itniJ Cambribgc : M A C M I L L A N AND CO. 1866. \_Tkc Right of Translation is resewed.] LONDON : R. CI.AV, SOX, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL, #43 *- Co ing 110%r, THESE MEMORIALS OF THE PAST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. THE following Memoir has been undertaken at the urgent solicitation of friends. Dreading the temptations to partial and therefore untruthful representation, to which relatives are exposed in attempting to portray the character of the objects of their love, I at first resolutely declined to be the Biographer of my brother. It was only when one to whom the public instinctively looked with hope, the Rev. Dr. Cairns, expressed reluctantly, but decisively, his inability to undertake the task, that my scruples were overcome ; and the result is now before the reader. While an honest and earnest attempt has been made throughout after truthful simplicity of narration, all ex- pression of personal opinion has been as far as possible avoided. In fact, the mass of letters at my disposal has made the Life in great part an autobiography. I have to acknowledge, with much gratitude, assistance received from the scientific friends whose names appear as contributors to the volume, and also the great kindness with which they and others have placed letters and private papers freely at my service. b Vlll PREFACE. To my brother, Dr. Daniel Wilson, I am indebted for hearty co-operation and assistance. The proof-sheets have been submitted to him, and to others fully competent to judge of the representation given, and now go forth with their sanction and approval. May He who has given strength to complete a record written under the shadow of heavy grief, be pleased to add His abundant blessing, and to illustrate afresh one " of the laws of His kingdom : That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." J. A. W. ELM COTTAGE, EDINBURGH, December, 1860. PREFACE TO ABRIDGED EDITION. In the present edition the larger volume has been com- into it is pressed much smaller bulk ; and while believed that nothing essential to the interest of the book has been omitted, it is hoped that to the general public its accept- ability has been increased. January, 1866. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE HOME AND FAMILY INFLUENCES I CHAPTER II. YOUTH AND STUDENT LIFE II CHAPTER III. A YEAR OF PREPARATORY WORK 4! CHAPTER IV. RESIDENCE IN LONDON DEGREE OF M.D 64 CHAPTER V. WORKING IN HOPE . 88 CHAPTER VI. LOSS OF HEALTH PUBLIC LECTURES ON CHEMISTRY INVALID LIFE 1 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. PAOB RELIGIOUS LIFE RETURN TO PROFESSIONAL LABOURS ... 147 CHAPTER VIII. LECTURER AND AUTHOR 177 CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN VARIOUS ASPECTS 204 CHAPTER X. THE SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM AND THE CHAIR OF TECHNOLOGY 262 CHAPTER XI. THE STRUGGLE CLOSES : VICTORY WON 319 CHAPTER XII. - VALE ! 365 APPENDIX 379 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAPTER I. HOME AND FAMILY INFLUENCES. " in side side They grew beauty by ; They filled one home with glee." IN the year 1812, on the 2d of June, a new household was formed in the city of Edinburgh. The small group of friends assembled at the wedding little thought that any beyond themselves would look back on that day with in- terest. So it ever is : we take part in what seems an every- day occurrence, and find afterwards, that, like the prophets of old, we have been by word and act heralding wondrous things, sowing seed that shall never cease to grow and pro pagate itself; uttering words whose echoes shall resound throughout the eternal ages. The bride, Janet Aitken, the youngest of a large family, was a native of Greenock, where her father lived and carried on business as land-surveyor. So fragile was Janet as a child, B 2 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. I. that it was not expected she could reach maturity, and her mother tried to prepare her for early death. But the race is not to the battle to swift, nor the the strong ; and the tender mother was the first to go, leaving her desolate little girl to the chill of an unsympathizing world, and disposed to envy every one who had a mother. At the time of her marriage Janet had passed through years of grief and change, and only a sister and a brother remained of her family circle. Both were married, and home had long been to her a word of little meaning. The bridegroom, Archibald Wilson, had, a few years before, come from Argyleshire to settle in business in Edinburgh, " " and thus, to each, our own romantic town had few per- sonal associations. Yet at this, their wedding-time, how fresh and beautiful it looked ! How pleasant in the clear morn- ings and long evenings to watch the Firth and the distant hills in in to feast peeping and out the varying lights ; the eye on the crags and on the battlements of the dear old castle in its nest of green, and on a thousand pictures of living beauty which refresh the eye at every turn ! Might not the fine old city seem to say to each of the two young ' " hearts, Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house," and in me thou shalt have a home dearer than those ' of the past 1 The first pledge of this unspoken promise was given in the birth of a daughter in the spring of the following year. When Mary was a year old, there came a fair little brother to the fountains of love when was again open ; and, John nearly two years of age, the group received a fresh addition in the arrival of a second boy, who was named Daniel, and 1 is the only son who has survived till now. i Dr. Daniel Wilson, Professor of History and English Literature, Canada. - University College, Toronto, t 1817-32. BIRTH OF TWIN BOYS. 3 The year 1817 opened in sorrow, for it found the heavy hand of sickness on one of this little band ; and ere its first month closed, Johnny had left them for the eternal home. The first deposit of the family treasures was thus placed beyond reach of the spoiler, and since then, from time to time, the store has been added to. Like the dreamer's ladder, a pathway was formed, by which the yearning hearts left behind have paid many a visit to the happy circle above, and been refreshed by the assurance from the Saviour's lips, " I will come again and receive you unto myself." About a year after this, on the aist of February, 1818, twin boys were born. It seemed to the mother, that God, having seen the desolation of her heart in the dreary months gone by, had sent, in His compassionate love, not only a son to increase the little flock, but also one to take the place of his brother in heaven. So while a new name, George, was given to the elder of the two, the subject of this memoir, the other received the name of John. When the twins were two years old, a little brother joined them, but only to spend two days on earth. Within the next five years two sisters and a brother were born. Of these, Jeanie died when four years old, Margaret lived three months, and Peter, the second of the name, one year. Afterwards the family received its complement in the birth of two sisters, who still survive. The elder one received her mother's name, Janet or Jessie, and the younger that of " " the dearly loved Jeanie, who had fallen asleep some years before. How far George was influenced by the death, in rapid succession, of so many of those who were growing up side by side with him, it is quite impossible to tell; but un- doubtedly many impressions were received which were not effaced during the years that followed. At five, when his B 2 4 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. I. baby sister slept her last sleep, he learned perhaps the first lesson of as he had attained death and immortality ; and, the age of seven when the sister of four years, and the brother of one, were taken away within two months of each other, he was capable of realizing somewhat at least of that " which is learned only in such times of darkness. 1 saw," he wrote in the last year of his life, "in early childhood or boyhood, so many little brothers and sisters die, that the darkness of those scenes, and the anguish of father and mother, made an indelible impression upon me." It was his belief that the human mind loses no impression ever made on it, and that the events of infancy, though they cannot be recalled, are not effaced, and will probably, like wonders revealed in a palimpsest, come up for review in the 1 future life. It may be that the distress he ever felt, on hearing of or witnessing suffering in young children, origi- nated in those early experiences. But though so soon reaping the benefits of a yoke borne in youth, let it not be supposed that his was a gloomy childhood: Far otherwise; his keen susceptibilities were open to joy as fully as to sorrow.