Chapter XLIII…

Chapter XLIII

Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (continued)――Religious and Miscellaneous Literature.

SECTION I.

Religious Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.

THE religious literature of Scotland in the form of sermons and hortative discourses is pretty large, but in the department of theology there are comparatively few works of high authority, which may be accounted for upon the ground that until recently there was little necessity for such works, as the religious differences of belief among the Scots were not concerning the existence and attributes of God nor the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, but chiefly as to forms of Church government, and the powers of the Established Church in relation to the State. These were the grounds on which differences in convictions and opinions prevailed among the people of Scotland, and hence the characteristics of the religious literature of the country.

The Rev. Ebenezer Erskine and his brother, the Rev. Ralph Erskine,¹ were both celebrated in the history of the national Church, but they were more remarkable for their personal influence and preaching than as writers. Ebenezer Erskine was the founder of the Secession Church, a man of great energy and strength of will. A collection of his sermons in five volumes has been published.

¹ Ebenezer was born in 1680, and died in 1755; Ralph was born in 1682, and died in 1751.

The sermons of Ralph Erskine are numerous, and he also composed Gospel Sonnets, which appeared in 1760 in two volumes, but they are devotional, not poetical. He was minister of the Church of Dunfermline, but joined the Secession with his brother and withdrew from the Establishment.

The Rev. Dr. John Erskine¹ was the eldest son of Erskine of Cardross, author of the Principles of the Law of Scotland. Mr. Erskine studied for the Church at the University of Edinburgh, and after completing his course he was ordained minister of the parish of Kirkintilloch in 1744. In 1753 he was presented to the church of Cardross; in 1758 he was transferred to the charge of the new Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh; and in 1765 he was appointed one of the ministers of old Greyfriars Church, where he had for his colleague Dr. Robertson. He was a learned divine, and the author of a long list of discourses and theological dissertations. He also has the honour of being among the first who advocated the cause of Foreign Missions in the Church of Scotland.

¹ Born in 1721, died in 1803.

Dr. Alexander Webster¹ was minister of the Tolbooth Church in Edinburgh. It was reported that at the time of the Rising of 1745 he wrote several patriotic songs to arouse the loyalty of his countrymen. After the battle of Culloden he was appointed to preach the thanksgiving sermon, which, with a few other of his sermons, was published. He has the merit of originating the Ministers’ Widows’ Fund, and also of carrying out the first attempt at a census in Scotland. According to the returns obtained by him in 1755, the population of Scotland was 1,265,380. He was an able and characteristic man in his day.

¹ Born in 1707 and died in 1784.

Dr. John Witherspoon was born on the 5th of February, 1722, in the parish of Yester, where his father was minister. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and at the age of twenty-one he was licensed to preach. In 1744 he was appointed minister of the parish of Beith. His pamphlet, entitled Ecclesiastical Characteristics, which appeared in 1753, was mainly directed against flaws in the principles and practice of some of the ministers of the Church. As it showed a strain of satire, it soon attracted attention, became popular, and reached a fifth edition in 1762. In 1756 his treatise on the Connection between the Doctrine of Justification by the imputed Righteousness of Christ and Holiness of Life was published. The following year his Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Stage appeared. On this subject there was much difference of opinion, yet it was generally recognised that he had treated the subject with ability and candour. In 1757 he received a call from the Low Church of Paisley, which he accepted. While carefully discharging his pastoral functions in Paisley, he published several sermons, and in 1764 his Essays on Important Subjects were issued in three volumes. Shortly after he received a call from a congregation in Dublin, another from the Scottish church at Rotterdam, and one from a congregation in Dundee, but he declined these invitations and remained in Paisley. Some years later, however, he was invited by the Trustees of the College of Princeton, New Jersey, in America, to become the President of that Institution, and he accepted the invitation and resolved to cross the Atlantic. On the 16th of April, 1768, he preached a farewell sermon to his congregation in Paisley, and in July he sailed for America.

Immediately after his arrival at New Jersey he entered on his new duties. He soon made changes in the system of instruction which had previously prevailed in the College; he extended the study of mathematical science, and improved the method of teaching natural philosophy. But his peaceful career was interrupted, and for a time terminated, by the American War of Independence. He joined the Colonists in this great struggle, and on the 17th of May, 1776, he expressed his view of the subject in a lecture delivered at Princeton, which was published. In 1776 he was elected to represent the people of New Jersey in the Congress of the United States, and acted as a member for seven years. He had considerable influence in Congress, and wrote a number of important State papers. After the settlement of 1783 he resumed his duties at Princeton. In 1785 he visited his native country with the aim of raising a fund for the College, which had been much injured by the war, but party-feeling was then rampant in Britain, and his mission was not a success. He stayed a short time at Paisley, and preached in two of the churches; and taking a final farewell of his friends, returned to America. He continued to perform his duties at the College until his death on the 15th of November, 1794. His writings evinced much knowledge of human nature, while his style was animated, simple, and attractive.

One of the most popular ministers of the eighteenth century was Dr. Blair,¹ a native of Edinburgh. He was first appointed minister of a parish church in Fifeshire, but being noted as a preacher, he was called to one of the city churches of Edinburgh. In 1759 he commenced a course of lectures on rhetoric and belles-lettres, which were subsequently published. In 1763 he issued a Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian. The first volume of his sermons was published in 1777, which was followed by other three, and a fifth volume which he had prepared, was published after his death. These volumes of sermons were once exceedingly popular, though it is difficult to discover the reason why they were so; they are perhaps grammatically correct in composition, but they are monotonous in style, and as for grasp of thought or reasoning, elevated emotion, or impassioned eloquence, they have none.

¹ Born in 1718, died in 1800.

Dr. James MacKnight was a son of the Rev. William MacKnight, minister at Irvine, and was born on the 17th of September, 1721. He received the rudiments of education at the school of Irvine, and at the age of fourteen he entered the University of Glasgow, and passed through the usual course of study. Afterwards he proceeded to Leyden and studied theology, where he had an opportunity of reading many valuable works by foreign divines. On returning to Scotland he was licensed to preach. In 1753 he was appointed minister of Maybole; in 1769 he was translated to the church of Jedburgh; and in 1772 he was elected minister of Lady Yester’s church in Edinburgh.

His writings were chiefly on the New Testament, and for several generations they were greatly esteemed. The first edition of his Harmony of the Gospels appeared in 1756, and a second, revised and enlarged, was issued in 1763. The same year he published the Truth of the Gospel History, which was intended to confirm by argument and reference to ancient authors what used to be called the Internal, the Collateral, and the Direct Evidences of the Gospel History. In 1795 his elaborate work, The New Translation of the Apostolical Epistles, with a commentary and notes, was published in four volumes. This work was long highly estimated. His style had little elegance or ornament, but it is clear, and pertinent to the subject. After a life of assiduous study and useful toil, he died on the 13th of January, 1800.

John Brown¹ of Haddington was a distinguished divine, and the author of various religious works. He belonged to Perthshire, being descended from parents in humble circumstances, both of whom died before he was eleven years of age. He says himself: “I was left a poor orphan, and had nothing to depend on but the providence of God.” He was first employed as a shepherd, and afterwards as a pedlar. But before he was twenty years of age, he had taught himself Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. For some time he discharged the functions of a schoolmaster in Kinross, and in 1748 he entered on the study of divinity in connection with the Associate Synod――a dissenting body afterwards merged in the United Presbyterian Church. In 1750 he was appointed minister of the Secession Church at Haddington, and in 1768 he was elected professor of divinity under the Associate Synod, discharging the duties of this office for a period of twenty years.

¹ Born in 1722, died in 1787.

His chief works are a Dictionary of the Bible, published in 1769, and his Self-Interpreting Bible which appeared in 1778; General History of the Christian Church, in 1771; A Compendious View of Natural and Revealed Religion; Harmony of Scripture Prophecies, and many other short religious and devotional treatises. The two first-named works were long popular, and are so still among some sections of Christians.

A grandson of the preceding divine, Dr. John Brown,¹ attained distinction as a minister and a professor of the Secession Church and as a biblical expositor. In 1806 he was appointed minister of a church at Biggar, but in 1822 he was called to Edinburgh, where he became professor of pastoral and exegetical theology in connection with the Associated Synod. As a preacher and lecturer he was masterly, at once vigorous, manly, warm, and exceedingly pathetic, and always rivetted the attention of his hearers.

¹ Born in 1784, died in 1858. The religious writings of Dr. James Fordyce, Dr. John Drysdale, and Dr. Robert Walker, were of some note, and widely read in their day.

He is the author of various theological works, amongst which may be mentioned his Expository Discourses on the Epistles of St. Peter, the Epistle to the Galatians, and the Epistle to the Romans. In 1860 Dr. Cairns published a Life of Dr. Brown, to which Dr. Brown’s own son, John Brown, M.D., added some very interesting particulars, which appeared in Horæ Subsecivæ in 1861.

Dr. Henry Hunter was born at Culross, Fifeshire, in 1741. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, licensed to preach in 1764, and in 1766 appointed one of the ministers of Leith. In 1769 he visited London, preached in several of the Scottish meeting-houses, where his sermons attracted much attention. Soon after he received an invitation to become minister of the congregation in Swallow Street, London, which he declined. In 1771, however, he accepted a call from the London Wall congregation, and removed to his new field of labour. This congregation became warmly attached to him. He was also appointed chaplain to the Scottish Corporation in London; and in 1790 he became secretary to the Corresponding Board of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Highlands, and to both institutions he rendered important service.

In 1783 the first volume of his History of the Patriarchs and of Jesus Christ appeared, which was extended to seven volumes. This work had reached a seventh edition in 1814. He published two volumes of his sermons, and Lectures on the Evidence of Christianity in one volume. He also attained some distinction as a translator of French and German works. He commenced the publication of a popular History of London and its Environs, which he did not live to complete. Dr. Hunter was a genial and benevolent man, and his social characteristics and conversation were much esteemed. He died in 1802.

Dr. William L. Brown, a son of the Rev. William Brown, was born at Utrecht on the 7th of January, 1755, where his father was then minister of the Scottish Church; but in 1757 his father was appointed Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of St. Andrews, and he returned to Scotland and assumed the duties of the chair. Although young Brown was sent to the Grammar School, he mainly received his early education from his father at home. At the age of twelve he entered the University of St. Andrews, where he studied seven years. In 1778 he was elected minister of the Scottish church at Utrecht. He discharged his pastoral functions with zeal and credit; but trying times were approaching. In 1787 he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy and Ecclesiastical History in the University of Utrecht. His “Essay on the Natural Equality of Men, the Rights that result from it, and the Duties which it imposes,” was published at Edinburgh in 1793, and the following year reprinted at London. It attracted considerable attention, and may be characterised as a discriminative discussion of the subject. Brown resided at Utrecht, and continued to discharge his professorial duties till the invading French army approached, when, in January, 1795, he embarked with his family in an open boat and landed in England. On returning to Scotland in the summer of 1795 he was appointed Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, and a few months later he was made Principal of the College. He entered on his functions at the opening of the ensuing session, and delivered an elaborate course of theological lectures. He held the offices of Professor and Principal until his death, which occurred on the 11th of May, 1830, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

Besides the Essay mentioned above, he wrote pamphlets on the Revolutionary War with France, which were published in 1795‒98. A volume of his sermons appeared in 1803. His important Essay on the Existence of a Supreme Creator was published in 1816 in two volumes, and gained the first Burnett prize of £1250; the second prize was awarded to Dr. Summers, Bishop of Chester. His other large work――A Comparative View of Christianity and of Other Forms of Religion which have existed in the World――was published in 1826 in two volumes. This work evinced great research, and it is composed in a clear and calm style.

Dr. George Hill, principal of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, one of the leaders of the moderate party of the Church, is the author of Lectures on Divinity, which were published after his death, by his son, Dr. Alexander Hill. They are chiefly remarkable for clearness in the statement of doctrines, and candour in representing the views of opponents.

Dr. Andrew Thomson¹ was a vigorous and able minister of the Scottish Church. He was first appointed minister of Sprouston, in the presbytery of Kelso; afterward of the East Church in Perth; and finally of St. George’s Church in Edinburgh. In 1810 The Scottish Christian Instructor appeared under his editorship, and it exercised a considerable influence on Scotch ecclesiastical questions. In the General Assembly he was a strong, an able, and a vehement debater, and an unsparing opponent in controversy. He was the author of various sermons and lectures.

¹ Born in 1779; died in 1831.

Dr. Thomas Chalmers¹ was the most distinguished of the Scottish divines of the first half of the present century. He was a native of Anstruther, in Fife; his father was a merchant there, and Thomas was sent at the age of twelve to the University of St. Andrews. Thus he received little preparatory grounding in his education, which may account for his lack of critical power as a scholar. Having finished his studies for the Church in 1803, he was appointed minister of Kilmany, a country parish in his native county. In this place his energy soon manifested itself; he lectured on chemistry in the towns of his district; he joined a volunteer corps; he wrote a book on the resources of the country, and pamphlets on some of the topics of the day. When the Edinburgh Encyclopædia was projected, he was asked to be a contributor, and engaged to write the article “Christianity.”

¹ Full and interesting details of Dr. Chalmers are given in Dr. Hanna’s Memoirs of him.

In 1815 Dr. Chalmers removed from Kilmany to the Tron Church in Glasgow, and, in 1819, to St. John’s. In this city he worked incessantly, and his fame rose rapidly. Yet it was said by competent eye-witnesses that his appearance and manner in the pulpit were ♦not prepossessing; he read his sermons and adhered closely to paper. But his power lay in the intensity and earnestness, the vehement and concentrated glow of his mind, throwing out his native eloquence like the blasts of a furnace.¹ Chalmers worked hard for the benefit of his congregation, and struggled to the utmost to excavate the practical heathenism of the city.

♦ extraneous word “his” removed

¹ A writer in the London Magazine gives an interesting account of Dr. Chalmers’ appearance in London:――When he visited London, the hold that he took on the minds of men was unprecedented. It was a time of strong political feeling; but even that was unheeded, and all parties thronged to hear the Scottish preacher. The very best judges were not prepared for the display that they heard. Channing and Wilberforce went together, and got into a pew near the door. The elder in attendance stood close by the pew. Chalmers began in his usual unpromising way, by stating a few nearly self-evident propositions neither in the choicest language nor in the most impressive voice. “If this be all,” said Channing to his companion, “it will never do.” Chalmers went on――the shuffling of the congregation gradually subsided. He got into the mass of his subject; his weakness became strength, his hesitation was turned into energy, and, bringing the whole volume of his mind to bear upon it, he poured forth a torrent of the most close and conclusive argument, brilliant with all the exuberance of an imagination which ranged over all nature for illustrations, and yet managed and applied each of them with the same unerring dexterity, as if that single one had been the study of a whole life. “The tartan beats us,” said Mr. Channing, “we have no preaching like that in England.”

His style became the rage among the young preachers in Scotland, but few of them could do more than copy his defects. His glowing energy, enthusiasm, and powerful mind were wanting.

In 1823 Dr. Chalmers was appointed professor of moral philosophy in the United College of St. Andrews; and in 1828 he was elected to the chair of divinity in the University of Edinburgh. A description of his inaugural address in the divinity chair in Edinburgh has been preserved, of which the following is a part:――“As to his discourse, all felt far more deeply than they could worthily declare, that it was a most glorious prelude, and that at once and for ever his right to reign as king in the broad realms of theological science, and to rule over their own individual minds as a teacher, was as unequivocal as his mastery over a popular assembly.”¹ He relinquished this chair in 1843, when he seceded from the Established Church.

¹ One of his pupils, Professor Masson, has stated that Chalmers’ course in theology was “really a course of Chalmers himself, and of Chalmers in all his characters. The students were carried through the whole circle of Chalmers’ favourite ideas.”――Macmillan’s Magazine, Volume XI., page 127.

Dr. Chalmers’ collected works, published in his lifetime, extended to twenty-five volumes, and treat on a wide range of subjects――natural theology, evidences of Christianity, moral philosophy, commercial and astronomical discourses, sermons, church and college endowments, church extension, political economy, etc. After his death nine more volumes, edited by Dr. Hanna, were added to his works, thus bringing his collected writings up to thirty-four volumes.

The chief characteristics of Chalmers’ writings are energy and earnestness, and a great variety of illustration. His knowledge was comprehensive, embracing science as well as a wide circle of literature. He also had an unusually accurate appreciation of the mind, habits, feelings, and the daily life of the Scottish people, which was one, if not the chief, source of his power and influence. In method and in style his writings are defective. His favourite mode of exposition is to present his main theme, idea, or subject in an almost endless variety of forms and different points of view, with the aim of impressing it on the mind of his hearers. He was a man of great sagacity, a real genius; and the work which he accomplished is a monument of his noble faculties, admirably directed for the good of his fellowmen.

Dr. Ralph Wardlaw,¹ a minister of the Independent Church in Glasgow, was the author of Discourses on the Socinian Controversy, which appeared in 1814, and have often been reprinted. He also published a number of sermons and theological essays. He was an able divine and an impressive preacher, and worked hard for the moral and spiritual welfare of Glasgow.²

¹ Born in 1779, died 1853.

² Macgeorge’s History of Glasgow, page 454, 1881. A life of Dr. Wardlaw was published by Dr. W. L. Alexander in 1856.

Dr. R. T. Candlish¹ was one of the ministers of Edinburgh who seceded from the Established Church in 1843. He was a vigorous and influential member of the Free Church, and a ready and able debater in Church courts. He is the author of the following theological works――1. Exposition of the Book of Genesis, 1852; 2. Discourses on the Resurrection, 1858; 3. Examination of Mr. Maurice’s Theological Essays, and other treatises. His intellect was keen and acute, and he showed considerable research and industry.

¹ Born in 1803, died in 1873.

Dr. John Cumming,¹ a native of Aberdeenshire, early distinguished himself by his vehement speeches against Popery, and by his peculiar interpretation of the Scriptures touching the duration of the world, and the winding up of the present dispensation. He is the author of a large number of religious books which, to a certain class of readers, are very attractive. Dr. Cumming for many years preached and ministered to a large congregation in London.

¹ Born in 1809.

Dr. Thomas Guthrie¹ was the son of a banker in Brechin. He was educated for the Church, and after a pretty long period of probation, waiting for a presentation to a vacant church, he was appointed minister of the parish of Arbirlot, in the Presbytery of Arbroath. In 1837 he was appointed one of the ministers of Old Greyfriars parish in Edinburgh, and by his energy and philanthropy attained a high position in the public estimation. He left the Establishment in 1843, and became one of the active founders of the Free Church.

¹ Born in 1803, died in 1873.

His untiring efforts to reclaim the wretched population of the worst parts of Edinburgh, and his great exertions in the promotion of ragged schools, are well known, and were highly appreciated by the public. He was a kind and warm-hearted man, and inspired with a real catholic spirit. As a pulpit orator he was great; his sermons glowed with poetic imagery and illustration, striking, pathetic, and highly impressive, and to which his tall and commanding person, powerful, clear, and musical voice, aided in producing a marked effect upon his hearers.

His chief works are――1. The Gospel in Ezekiel, published in 1855; 2. Christ and the Inheritance of the Saints, 1858; 3. The Way to Life, 1862; 4. The City, its Sins and Sorrows; 5. Pleas for Ragged Schools; 6. Saving Knowledge, addressed to Young Men, and several other short religious treatises, and tracts on intemperance. These writings are all marked by the distinguishing characteristics of the man himself――Scripture truth, wide and warm sympathies, elevated and generous sentiments, but showing little indication of the logical or critical faculty.

Dr. Norman Macleod¹ was descended from a family of Highland clergymen; his grandfather was minister of Morven, and his own father was minister of Campsie, in Stirlingshire. Norman was educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, in which he attained no marked distinction. For a short time he acted as tutor to the son of a Yorkshire gentleman, with whom he visited Weimar, and in that little capital Macleod enjoyed himself amazingly.

¹ Born in 1812, died in 1872.

His first charge was Loudon, in Ayrshire, a district at that time inhabited by a small portion of Covenanting farmers and a large number of political weavers. With both these parties he soon had his difficulties. The Covenanting theologians examined him on the “fundamentals,” and the weavers scoffed at religion, and keenly disputed his political opinions. “When visiting one well-known Chartist, he was requested to sit down on a bench at the front door, and discuss the ‘seven points.’ The weaver, with his shirt sleeves turned up, his apron rolled about his waist, and his snuff mull in his hand, vigorously propounded his favourite political doctrines.

“When he had concluded, he turned to the minister and demanded an answer, and Norman replied thus:――‘In my opinion your principles would drive the country into revolution, and create in the long-run national bankruptcy.’ ‘Nay-tion-al bankruptcy,’ said the old man meditatively, and diving for a pinch, ‘Div-ye-think-sae;’ then briskly, after a long snuff, ‘Dod, I’d risk it.’”

But the warm heart and kind manner of the young minister softened down all opposition. In 1843 he was presented to the parish of Dalkeith; and in 1851 he was appointed to the Barony parish of Glasgow, in which he continued to labour till his death. He took an active interest in the affairs of this great city, in church extension, and educational matters. A monument in the form of a statue was erected to his memory in the vicinity of the church in which he ministered, by the citizens of Glasgow.¹

¹ Macgeorge’s History of Glasgow, pages 478‒479.

His first literary effort was a volume entitled The Earnest Student, an account of his brother-in-law, John Mackintosh. He was editor of Good Words, a monthly periodical projected by Mr. Strahan the publisher, from 1860 till his death, and to its pages he contributed his stories, “The Old Lieutenant,” “The Highland Parish,” “The Starling,” etc. These and his Travels in the East are interesting and pleasant reading. He was more a man of action than a thinker. His efforts were directed to promote the good of mankind, and he was equally popular with the Court, the aristocracy, and the inmates of the darkest abodes of Glasgow.

The Rev. Dr. John Eadie¹ was a native of Alva, in Stirlingshire, and by his earnest efforts and industry, rose to distinction as a biblical scholar. He was an assiduous and successful student, and in his twenty-first year he was inducted pastor of the Cambridge Street U.P. Church in Glasgow. After preaching there for a quarter of a century, he removed with his congregation to a more spacious church on the Great Western Road, at Kelvin Bridge, which was erected at a cost of £12,000.²

¹ Born 1813, died in 1876.

² Macgeorge’s History of Glasgow, pages 479‒480.

He was the author of many works, amongst which are:――1. An Analytical Concordance of the Holy Scriptures; 2. Biblical Encyclopædia; 3. Commentaries on the Greek Texts of the Epistles of St. Paul to the Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians; 4. Early Oriental History; 5. History of the English Bible; 6. Ecclesiastical Cyclopædia of Antiquities, etc.

The Rev. Robert Buchanan¹ was an eminent Free Church minister. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and is the author of the well-known work, The Ten Years’ Conflict, an Exposition of the Causes of the Disruption. He was a man of remarkable business abilities, and one of the chief organisers of the Free Church.

¹ Born in 1802, and died in 1875.

Dr. John Tulloch, Principal of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, was born in 1822 and died in 1885. He is the author of a number of interesting works. His first important effort was his treatise on Theism, for which he received one of the Burnett prizes in 1855. His other works are:――1. Leaders of the Reformation, or Sketches of Luther, Calvin, Latimer, and Knox, which appeared in 1859: 2. English Puritanism and its Leaders, Cromwell, Milton, Baxter, and Bunyan, 1861; 3. Beginning Life, Chapters for Young Men, 1862; 4. The Christ of the Gospels and the Christ of Modern Criticism, 1864; 5. Studies in the Religious Thought of England, 1867; 6. Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy of England in the Seventeenth Century, two volumes, 1872; 7. The Christian Doctrine of Sin, 1876; 8. Some Facts of Religion and of Life, 1877; 9. Modern Theories in Philosophy and Religion.¹

¹ Dr. Tulloch contemplated writing the history of modern Scotland, but I fear that he has not left it in a complete form. In 1877 he himself informed me of his purpose to write such a work, and said that he had then made some progress in preparing materials for it, but complained with some feeling of the difficulty of finding the requisite materials.

He was for several years editor of Fraser’s Magazine, and enriched its pages with various critical and literary articles. His style is clear, easy, polished, and flowing. In describing individual men, their writings, opinions, and views, his expression is often very fine and happy. He was a highly-cultured and accomplished man, with a well-balanced mind, though his analytic powers were not remarkable.

Dr. Tulloch was liberal minded, and took an active part in the proceedings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He had the reputation of being a good public speaker, and his last speech in the General Assembly was one of his greatest oratorical efforts. He frequently delivered public lectures to literary societies and institutions.

William Milligan, the son of a Scottish minister, was born in Edinburgh on the 15th of March, 1821. He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh and the parish school of Kilconquhar, in Fifeshire, and entered the University of St. Andrews in 1835. He graduated in Arts in 1839; and subsequently studied divinity at St. Andrews and Edinburgh. In 1844 he was appointed minister of the parish of Cameron, in Fifeshire, in which he earnestly discharged his pastoral functions and duties for sixteen years. He was appointed to the Chair of Divinity and Biblical Criticism in the University of Aberdeen in 1860. He entered with much energy upon the work assigned to his chair, and proved an able and successful professor. For many years he took an active part in the work of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In 1875 he was appointed ♦Deputy Clerk of Assembly, and on the death of Principal Tulloch in 1886 he was appointed Chief Clerk of Assembly. As a citizen of Aberdeen, he took a warm interest in everything calculated to improve the social state and promote the happiness of the community. For six years he was a member of the Aberdeen School Board, and three years its Chairman. In short, he was ever ready to advocate any humane and beneficent movement. In July, 1893, he resigned his Chair in the University, intending to reside in Edinburgh during the evening of his days. Before leaving Aberdeen he had a serious illness. In the middle of October he removed to Edinburgh with his family, but his strength was failing. He died, with his beloved wife and his children around him, on the 11th of December, 1893.

♦ “Depute” replaced with “Deputy”

His contributions to religious literature were considerable and important. In 1855‒58 he contributed a number of articles on New Testament subjects to Kitto’s Journal of Sacred Literature. In 1864‒66 he contributed articles to the Imperial Bible Dictionary, and subsequently many religious articles to the Contemporary Review and to other reviews and magazines. He was appointed Croall Lecturer for 1879‒80, and delivered his lectures in Edinburgh on the subject of “The Resurrection of our Lord.” In 1881 the lectures were published in a volume, with notes. He has treated this important and very difficult subject with rare insight, much ability, and earnestness. It is an interesting book, and has had a wide circulation. His first course of Baird Lectures on the Revelation of St. John were published in 1886, and has reached a third edition. His second course of Baird Lectures on The Ascension and Heavenly Priesthood of our Lord were issued in 1892, and attracted notice. Dr. Milligan’s writings have had a considerable influence in religious circles.

William Robertson Smith was born on the 8th of November, 1846, at the Free Church manse of Keig, Aberdeenshire, where his father was minister. He was mainly educated by his father at home, and entering the University of Aberdeen in 1861, had a very distinguished university career. He gained the Fullerton Scholarship for mathematics and natural philosophy. He studied theology at the Free Church College, Edinburgh, and subsequently studied for some time at the Universities of Bonn and Göttingen. In 1870 he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages in the Free Church College at Aberdeen, proving himself an excellent teacher. His admirable historic criticism and expositions of the Old Testament were deemed too advanced for the time, and brought him into conflict with the courts of the Free Church. His struggle for freedom in Biblical criticism was protracted, and at times very vehement. Though young in years, he defended his views and conclusions with rare and astonishing ability. His grasp of thought, readiness in debate, candour and earnestness, were conspicuous throughout the conflict. Indeed, he achieved a great victory for freedom of thought, though he had to vacate his chair in the College in 1880.

Shortly after his removal from this position, he was appointed joint-editor with Professor Spencer Baynes of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and after Baynes’ death he became sole editor. In 1883 he was appointed Lord Almoner’s Reader in Arabic at Cambridge University. In 1886 he was elected Librarian of the University; and in 1889 was appointed to the Sir Thomas Adam’s Professorship of Arabic at Cambridge. He received the degrees of LL.D. from the University of Aberdeen in 1882; and was appointed Burnett Lecturer in the University in 1888. Between 1888 and 1891 he delivered three courses of lectures on “The Primitive Religion of the Shemitic Peoples viewed in their relation to other ancient Religions and to the spiritual religion of the Old Testament and Christianity.” For several years he had been suffering from ill-health, yet was always courageous and hopeful, and continued to work assiduously. He died at Cambridge on the 31st of March, 1894.

His principal writings consist of a series of important articles contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica on Biblical subjects, embracing “Angel,” “Bible,” “Canticles,” “Chronicles,” “Haggai,” “Hebrew Language and Literature,” and other articles. These created much alarm, and led to proceedings in the Free Church courts, mentioned before, but they are all excellent specimens of historical criticism and interpretation. In 1881 his work entitled The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, Twelve Lectures on Biblical Criticism, appeared; the lectures were delivered to large audiences in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In his preface to the work he says――“It is of the first importance that the reader should realise that Biblical criticism is not the invention of modern scholars but the legitimate interpretation of historical facts.... The great value of historical criticism is that it makes the Bible more real to us.... In all true religion the new rests upon the old. No one, then, to whom Christianity is a reality, can safely acquiesce in an unreal conception of the Old Testament history; and, in an age when all are interested in historical research, no apologetic can prevent thoughtful minds from drifting from faith if the historical study of the Old Testament is condemned by the Church and left in the hands of unbelievers.” This work shows evidence of wide and careful research, accurate knowledge, and rare discrimination. His work on Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia was published in 1885, and it is marked by his characteristic faculty of handling historical subjects. The first series of his Burnett Lectures on the Religion of the Semites was published in 1889, and is a very remarkable work. His historical method was thorough, embracing a search for everything relating to the subject. His keen insight, and faculty of digesting and explicating the customs and characteristics of early religions, were marvellous. His mind was vigorous and intently active, and his acquired knowledge vast and varied. The result of his supreme efforts for freedom of Biblical criticism has been remarkable.

There are a considerable number of periodical publications devoted to religious literature which are pretty widely circulated in Scotland. Fiction of a religious turn and character has also been freely produced and circulated during the present generation. In short, religious literature, both in its higher and lower departments, has undergone a marked change and improvement within the present century. In the higher department of religious thought, and the historical criticism and exposition of the Scriptures, there has been a revolution in Scotland; the freedom of inquiry and the latitude of statement of doctrine and opinion which now prevails would not have been permitted or tolerated half a century ago.

SECTION II.

_Miscellaneous Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._

Dr. John Arbuthnot¹ was a native of a place of the same name in Kincardineshire. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen; and having studied medicine, he went to London, where he attained some reputation as an author and a wit. He became an associate of Pope, Swift, Gay, and Prior, and was connected with some of the humorous and comic efforts of the time; they were all Jacobites, and deeply interested in the success of that party. He wrote an Examination of Dr. Woodward’s Account of the Deluge, and an Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning. The satirical Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus, which was published in Pope’s works, it is believed, was chiefly written by Arbuthnot. The design of this work was to ridicule all the false tastes in learning, and is a book of rare merit.

¹ Born in 1667; died in 1735.

In 1709, Arbuthnot was appointed physician-in-ordinary to the Queen. In 1712, his History of John Bull appeared――a monument of wit and humour. Its main design was to throw ridicule upon the Duke of Marlborough, and render the nation discontented with the French war. The allegory in this performance is admirably sustained, and the satirical allusions stinging and happy. The following is from John Bull――that is, the English; Nic Frog is the Dutch, and Hocus the Duke of Marlborough:――

“For the better understanding the following history, the reader ought to know that Bull, in the main, was an honest, plain-dealing fellow, choleric, bold, and of a very inconstant temper; he dreaded not old Lewis either at backsword, single falchion, or cudgel-play; but then he was very apt to quarrel with his best friends, especially if they pretended to govern him; if you flattered him, you might lead him like a child. John’s temper depended very much upon the air; his spirits rose and fell with the weather-glass. John was quick, and understood his business very well; but no man was more careless in looking into his accounts, or more cheated by partners, apprentices, and servants. This was occasioned by his being a boon companion, loving his bottle and his diversion; for to say truth, no man kept a better house than John, nor spent his money more generously. By plain and fair dealing, John had acquired some plums, and might have kept them, had it not been for his unhappy law-suit.

“Nic Frog was a cunning, sly rogue, quite the reverse of John in many particulars: covetous, frugal; minded domestic affairs; would pinch his belly to save his pockets; never lost a farthing by careless servants or bad debtors. He did not care much for any sort of diversions, except tricks of high German artists, and legerdemain; no man exceeded Nic in these; yet it must be owned that Nic was a fair dealer, and in that way acquired immense riches.

“Hocus was an old cunning attorney; and though this was the first considerable suit that ever he was engaged in, he showed himself superior in address to most of his profession; he kept always good clerks: he loved money, was smooth tongued, gave good words, and seldom lost his temper; he was not worse than an infidel, for he provided plentifully for his family; but he loved himself better than them all; the neighbours reported that he was henpecked, which was impossible by such a mild-spirited woman as his wife was.

“Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy that devours everything. John Bull was flattered by the lawyers that his suit would not last above a year or two at most; that before that time he would be in quiet possession of his business; yet ten long years did Hocus steer his course through all the meanders of the law, and all the courts. No skill, no address was wanting; and, to say truth, John did not starve his cause; there wanted not yellow-boys to fee counsel, hire witnesses, and bribe juries. Lord Strutt was generally cast, never had one verdict in his favour; and John was promised that the next, and next, would be the final determination. But, alas! that final determination and happy conclusion was like an enchanted island――the nearer John came to it, the further it went from him.”

He issued several other satirical pieces, one called the Art of Political Lying, and his Treatise concerning the Altercation or Scolding of the Ancients. His serious works consist of dissertations on ancient coins, weights, and measures, and some books on medical subjects. He was a cultured and accomplished man, and a real genius and wit in his way.

Henry Home, Lord Kames,¹ was a native of the county of Berwick; he was descended from an ancient family. Educated at home under a private tutor, and having chosen the profession of law, he was called to the Scottish bar in 1734. For a number of years he directed his attention to his profession, and to the composition of treatises connected with it. In 1752 he was raised to the bench, and assumed the title of Lord Kames. He became one of the distinguished members of the literary circles of Edinburgh, and a warm and generous patron of literature, and of every public movement calculated to promote the prosperity and civilisation of the nation. He was a man of great energy and ability, and perhaps no man ever more earnestly desired and endeavoured to advance the prosperity and happiness of his countrymen than this Scottish judge of the eighteenth century.²

¹ Born in 1696, and died in 1782. A very full and appreciative Account of the Life and Writings of Lord Kames was written by Alexander F. Tytler of Woodhouselee, and published in 1807 in two large volumes.

² Dr. Reid, who knew Kames well, says:――“It is difficult to say whether that worthy man was more eminent in active life or in speculation. Very rare, surely, have been the instances where the talents for both were united in so eminent a degree.... His private virtues and public spirit, his assiduity through a long and laborious life in many honourable public offices with which he was entrusted, and his zeal to encourage and promote everything that tended to the improvement of his country, in laws, literature, commerce, manufactures, and agriculture, are best known to his friends and contemporaries.”

His writings are:――1. Essays upon several Subjects in Law, published in 1733; 2. The Decisions of the Court of Session from its institution to the present time, abridged and digested in the form of a Dictionary, in two volumes, 1741; 3. Essays on British Antiquities (on legal and constitutional subjects), 1747; 4. Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, 1751; 5. The Statute Law of Scotland abridged, with Historical Notes, 1757; 6. Historical Law Tracts, 1759; 7. Principles of Equity, 1760; 8. Introduction to the Art of Thinking, 1761; 9. Elements of Criticism, in three volumes, 1762; 10. Sketches of the History of Man, in two volumes, 1774; 11. The Gentleman Farmer, being an attempt to improve agriculture by subjecting it to the test of rational principles. The mere enunciation of Lord Kames’ works evinces his energy and industry.

The most distinctive and important of his works are the Elements of Criticism, and the Sketches of the History of Man. Considered as an attempt to investigate the principles of the fine arts, as results of the operations of the human mind, his Elements of Criticism has merits, although it has also many defects. The subject is one of considerable difficulty, and he was among the first to attempt its exposition in modern times. His Sketches of Man contains some curious facts, important hints, and acute reflections on society. Although style was the object of his attention, yet he never attained this; his sentences are usually cast in the same mould, with little variety in their arrangement and form; are generally too short, and when long, are often involved and faulty in construction.

James Burnet, Lord Monboddo,¹ was born at Monboddo in Kincardineshire. He was educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, and studied the civil law at Groningen. He became an advocate, and attained a good practice in the Court of Session. He was raised to the bench in 1767. Lord Monboddo was a man of honour and moral rectitude, but of much eccentricity of character and singularity of opinions, which appeared both in his habits and in the views enounced in his writings.

¹ Born in 1714, died in 1799.

He was an ardent admirer of Greek literature, and a warm worshipper of Homer. As carriages were not used among the ancients, he never deigned to enter one himself, but performed all his journeys to London and other places on horseback, for he deemed it a degradation of the real dignity of man to be dragged at the tail of a horse instead of mounted upon his back.

His chief works are:――Essay on the Origin and Progress of Language, published in 1771‒76, in six volumes; and Ancient Metaphysics, which appeared in 1779, in six volumes. In the first-named work, this sage gravely maintained that men were originally monkeys, and that in this condition they continued for ages, without speech, reason, or social affections. He contended that they were gradually improved by successive revolutions, and asserts that in the Bay of Bengal there existed a nation of human beings with tails like monkeys, which had been discovered a hundred and fifty years before by a Swedish skipper. He maintained that all the moral sentiments and domestic affections were the result of contrivance, art, and experience, just like shipbuilding, writing, or any other mechanical invention; thus he was led to place man, in his natural state, below beavers and seacats, which he terms social and political animals. Still, on occasion, he could write good sense, such as this:――

“Had we no other desires than those belonging to the animal life, our imaginations, like those of other animals, would be wholly employed about the objects of those desires. But we have other desires belonging to the rational nature, which make our imaginations much more rich and various than those of the brute creation. And, first, we have the love of Beauty of every kind, whether in objects visible or audible, in manners, sentiments, or actions. This love of beauty is congenial with the rational nature, and whoever is entirely devoid of it hardly deserves the name of man. But in this, as in other respects, man differs much from man; for some have the love and taste for beauty in a very small degree; others, whom Nature has formed of her best clay, and heaven bestowed on them more than an ordinary portion of the celestial fire, have it in a very high degree.... If it be the beauty of the visible kinds which captivates those minds, and if their imaginations are carried into works, then we have painters, sculptors, and poets, of an inferior kind, I mean descriptive poets. If it be the beauty of sounds, then we have musicians. But if the turn of mind be towards beauties of a higher kind, such as those of sentiments, manners, and actions, then are produced heroic and tragic poets, painters, sculptors, and musicians of the highest order, who express in their compositions what is most sublime and exalted in sentiment and character. The capacity of performing in these several arts is what we call Genius.”¹

¹ Ancient Metaphysics, Volume II., page 265.

Thomas, Lord Erskine,¹ was the youngest son of the Earl of Buchan. He had served both in the army and navy, but resigned his commission and turned to the study of law, being called to the English bar in his twenty-eighth year. He soon took a foremost place, and some of his speeches are fine specimens of English forensic oratory. In 1783, he entered parliament as member for Portsmouth, but his success in the House of Commons was not remarkable. In 1806, he was appointed Lord Chancellor, and received the title of Baron Erskine; he only held the Great Seal for a short time, as he had to retire on the dissolution of the Whig government in the spring of 1807. In 1817, he published a political fragment entitled Armata, which contains some good remarks on constitutional law and history.

¹ Born in 1750; died in 1823.

John Stockdale had published a defence of Warren Hastings, written by the Rev. John Logan, as before mentioned, which it was alleged contained a libel upon the House of Commons, and Erskine undertook the defence of Stockdale. The trial took place on the 9th of December, 1789, and the following is a part of Erskine’s speech on the occasion, and refers to the government of India:――

“The unhappy people of India, feeble and effeminate as they are from the softness of their climate, and subdued and broken as they have been by the knavery and strength of civilisation, still occasionally start up in all the vigour and intelligence of insulted nature. To be governed at all they must be governed by a rod of iron, and our empire in the East would long since have been lost to Great Britain if skill and military prowess had not united their efforts to support an authority which heaven never gave, by means which it can never sanction.

“Gentlemen, I think I can observe that you are touched with this way of considering the subject, and I can account for it. I have not been considering it through the cold medium of books, but have been speaking of man and his nature, and of human dominion, from what I have seen of them myself amongst reluctant nations submitting to our authority. I know what they feel, and how such feelings can alone be suppressed. I have heard them in my youth from a naked savage in the indignant character of a prince surrounded by his subjects, addressing the governor of a British colony, holding a bundle of sticks in his hand, as the notes of his unlettered eloquence. ‘Who is it,’ said the jealous ruler over the desert, encroached upon by the restless foot of English adventure, ‘who is it that causes the river to rise in the high mountains and empty itself into the ocean? Who is it that causes to blow the loud winds of winter, and that calms them again in summer? Who is it that rears up the shade of these lofty forests, and blasts them with the quick lightning at His pleasure? The same Being who gave to you a country on the other side of the waters, and gave ours to us; and by this title we will defend it,’ said the warrior, throwing down his tomahawk upon the ground, and raising the war-sound of his nation. These are the feelings of subjugated men all round the globe; and depend upon it, nothing but fear will control where it is vain to look for affection.”

James Boswell¹ was the son of a Scottish judge, and his Life of Dr. Johnson is too well known to require any particular notice in these pages. Boswell studied for the bar, but he attached himself to Johnson, soothing and flattering him, and taking copious notes of his sayings and conversation. In 1773 he accompanied Johnson on his tour to the Highlands; and, after the death of the great lexicographer, in 1785 he published his journal of the tour, giving a record of each day’s occurrences. In 1791 his Life of Johnson appeared in two volumes; a second edition was published in 1794, and Boswell was engaged in preparing a third when he died. Many editions of the work have since been issued.

¹ Born in 1740, died in 1795.

Dr. James Currie¹ issued his edition of the Works of Burns in 1800 for the benefit of the poet’s family. The edition was accompanied by a memoir of the poet, from which subsequent biographers have drawn freely. Dr. Currie’s edition realised to the family of Burns the sum of £1400.

¹ Born in 1756, died in 1805.

Lord Jeffrey¹ was a native of Edinburgh, the son of a gentleman who held the office of depute-clerk in the Court of Session. He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, and Queen’s College, Oxford. After studying law, he was called to the bar in 1794. For many years his income was small, but being sober and industrious, he kept himself out of debt. He was a Whig in politics throughout his career. He was also one of the originators of the Edinburgh Review, the first number of which appeared in October, 1802. From 1803 to 1829, Jeffrey was editor and sole manager of the Review. In its pages he found ample scope for his political opinions and his literary and critical faculties. Thus Jeffrey and his accomplished associates in the Review wielded much political influence throughout that stirring period; and they also produced memorable effects on the periodical literature and criticism of the present century. From the date of the appearance of the Edinburgh Review, the standard of criticism in this country has been gradually rising, and we owe a debt of gratitude to its originators.

¹ Born in 1773, died in 1850.

In 1820, Jeffrey was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow. On the occasion of his installation he delivered an elegant and interesting address to the students, in which he reminded them that within the walls of this College “he had received by far the most valuable part of his own education.” In 1829, Jeffrey was unanimously elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates; and he then resigned the editorship of the Review. On the formation of Earl Grey’s administration in 1830, he was appointed Lord Advocate for Scotland, and sat for a short time in parliament. But, in 1834, he was raised to the bench, and as Lord Jeffrey, he discharged the functions of a Scotch judge with marked attention, uprightness, and ability, till the period of his death.

The most important of his contributions to the Edinburgh Review were collected by himself in 1844, and published in four volumes, and since reprinted in one large volume. His articles and criticisms cover a wide range of subjects――poetry, elegant literature, moral science, and the philosophy of life. As a critic he discharged his difficult task well, with sound judgment and taste, although occasionally, in the early years of the Review, he was rather harsh and severe. In poetic criticism he sometimes failed to appreciate the genuine merits of his author. His ethical ideas and sentiments were pure, elevated, and noble.

I have only space for one short specimen of his style on the prevailing notion that genius is a source of peculiar unhappiness to its possessors:――“Men of truly great powers of mind have generally been cheerful, social, and indulgent; while a tendency to sentimental whining or fierce intolerance may be ranked among the surest symptoms of little souls and inferior intellects. In the whole list of our English poets we can only remember Shenstone and Savage――two, certainly, of the lowest――who were querulous and discontented. Cowley, indeed, used to call himself melancholy; but he was not in earnest, and, at any rate, was full of conceits and affectations, and has nothing to make us proud of him. Shakespeare, the greatest of them all, was evidently of a free and joyous temperament, and so was Chaucer, their common master. The same disposition appears to have predominated in Fletcher, Jonson, and their great contemporaries. The genius of Milton partook something of the austerity of the party to which he belonged, and of the controversies in which he was involved; but even when fallen on evil days and evil tongues, his spirit seems to have retained its serenity, as well as its dignity; and in his private life, as well as in his poetry, the majesty of a high character is tempered with great sweetness, genial indulgence, and practical wisdom. In the succeeding age our poets were but too gay; and though we forbear to speak of living authors, we know enough of them to say with confidence, that to be miserable or to be hated is not now, any more than heretofore, the common lot of those who excel.”

Henry Brougham¹ was a native of Edinburgh, and subsequently known as Lord Brougham. He was educated at the High School and the University of Edinburgh; and, after studying for the legal profession, he was admitted to the Scottish bar, at which he practised for several years. He was also one of the original writers of the Edinburgh Review, to which he contributed a long series of articles, chiefly to the earlier numbers. Scotland became too small for him, and he joined the English bar, entered parliament in 1810, allied himself with the Whig party, and pushed his career with great energy. He proved a steady friend to political reform. In 1830, he attained the height of his ambition by his elevation to the Woolsack, with the title of Lord Brougham and Vaux. He held the office of Lord Chancellor for four years, and retired with his party in the autumn of 1834. This ended his official career; but he afterwards worked hard as a law reformer.

¹ Born in 1778, and died in 1868.

His works are numerous, but none of them can be ranked high, either in literature, philosophy, or science, in all of which he tried his hand. His style is loose, heavy, and verbose. His writings are lacking in clear thinking, and definite conclusions; he always seems to be coming to close quarters with the subject, but he never comes to it. I think the best of his works is the one entitled The British Constitution, published in 1861. He occupied the later years of his long life in writing notices of his Life and Times, which were published in 1871, in three volumes.

The following quotation is from one of his speeches delivered in the House of Commons on law reform:――“The course is clear before us; the race is glorious to run. You have the power of sending your name down through all times, illustrated by deeds of higher fame, and more useful import, than ever were done within these walls. You saw the greatest warrior of the age――conqueror of Italy, humbler of Germany, terror of the North――saw him account all his matchless victories poor, compared with the triumph you are now in a condition to win――saw him condemn the fickleness of fortune, while, in despite of her, he could pronounce his memorable boast:――‘I shall go down to posterity with my code in my hand.’ You have vanquished him in the field; strive now to rival him in the sacred arts of peace! The lustre of the regency will be eclipsed by the more solid and enduring splendour of the reign. The praise which false courtiers feigned for our Edwards and Harrys, the Justinians of that day, will be the just tribute of the wise and good to that monarch under whose sway so mighty an undertaking shall be accomplished. Of a truth, the holders of sceptres are most chiefly to be envied for that they bestow the power of thus conquering and ruling. It was the boast of Augustus――it formed part of the glare in which the prejudices of his earlier years were lost――that he found Rome of brick, and left it of marble; a praise not unworthy of a great prince, and to which the present also has its claims. But how much nobler will be the sovereign’s boast, when he shall have it to say that he found law dear and left it cheap; found it a sealed book, left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich, left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression, left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.”

It is recorded that Brougham wrote the peroration of his concluding speech for the defence of Queen Caroline no fewer than fifteen times over; yet it is not very impressive.

Robert Mudie,¹ a native of Forfarshire, was a self-educated man and a very industrious writer. He was for some time connected with the London press, and was the author of about ninety volumes on a variety of subjects. Among these may be named his Picture of Men and Things in London; Modern Athens, a Sketch of Edinburgh Society; The British Naturalist; The Feathered Tribes of Great Britain, and a series of volumes on the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the air; Man, physical, moral, social, and intellectual. Although somewhat deficient in taste, Mudie was an able and vigorous writer. His imaginative and elaborative faculties were of a high order, and he could throw animation and light into the driest subjects.

¹ Born in 1777, died in 1842.

Mr. George Combe¹ was by profession a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh, but he devoted much of his time and energy to philosophical and literary pursuits. He was a man highly respected by all who knew him, and by his writings has attained a wide reputation. He became a popular expounder of the doctrines of phrenology, which he enforced in a clear and vigorous style.

¹ Born in 1788, died in 1858.

His chief works are:――1. Essays on Phrenology, published in 1819; 2. The Constitution of Man, 1828; 3. System of Phrenology, 1836; 4. Phrenology applied to Painting and Sculpture; 5. _Notes on the United States of America_, in three volumes, 1841; 6. Pamphlets on The Relation between Science and Religion, on Capital Punishments, on National Education, The Currency Question, etc.

He was a man of great intellectual powers and exceptional abilities. All his writings are well worth reading, even apart from his special doctrines of phrenology. His Constitution of Man has been exceedingly popular, and has passed through many editions――hundreds of thousands of it having been sold. I have known several of his followers who almost worshipped him, and placed the most implicit faith in the doctrines of the Constitution of Man. There is no doubt that his writings have had a considerable influence among certain classes of the people.

The interesting life of Hugh Miller, the self-taught man of science and genius, was admirably narrated by himself in his Schools and Schoolmasters. He was a native of Cromarty, born in 1802, and died in 1856. For the last sixteen years of his life he was editor of The Witness, a twice-a-week paper. He was a geologist, and a man of great literary talents; very few excel him as a popular expositor of geology. He had a wide command of expressive and appropriate language, and his imaginative and elaborative powers were of a high order. His descriptions of geological strata and fossil remains are illumined by a vividness of realisation as yet unmatched in this branch of literature.

His works are:――1. Scenes and Legends in the North of Scotland, or the Traditional History of Cromarty; 2. The Old Red Sandstone, which appeared in 1841; 3. First Impressions of England and its People, 1847; 4. Footprints of the Creator, 1850; 5. My Schools and Schoolmasters, an Autobiography, 1854; 6. The Testimony of the Rocks: 7. The Cruise of the Betsey, 1858; 8. Sketch-Book of Popular Geology, being a series of Lectures delivered before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh; and 9, two volumes of essays, being a selection of his articles from the file of The Witness.

His writings were popular, and many editions have been issued. The following quotation is taken from an article reprinted from The Witness on “A Five-pound Qualification” (franchise), and it exemplifies a feature of his style which he often employs effectively, touching on some striking phase of a different subject to give point to the one that he intended to discuss. The article has also a special interest at the present time.

“When, owing to some deep-seated cause, the general level of a country is heightened by sudden upheaval, not only is its area extended by an apparent recession of the sea, but the outline of its coasts is also very much changed. In places where the land is flat and low, and the water shallow, it receives accessions of great tracts of new country; whereas in other places, where high table-lands sink suddenly into the sea and the water is deep, it is restricted to near its old limits. In Scotland, for instance, that last upheaval which laid dry the old coast line added many a rich acre to the links of the Forth and the Carse of Gowrie, and gave to the country the sites of most of its sea-port towns, such as Leith and Greenock, Musselburgh, Stonehaven, and Inverness; whereas along the rocky shores of Aberdeen and Banff, and especially in Caithness and Orkney, it did little more, save here and there in a narrow inlet, than reduce by some two or three fathoms the depth of the sea at the foot of the cliffs. It left the old boundaries just what they had been. The extension of area which took place in consequence of the upheaval was partial and local, though in the aggregate it added not a little to the general value of the country; and this particular character was altogether a result of the previous form of the surface. We have witnessed something similar in the effects of those great upheavals which occasionally take place in the political world. The Reform Bill effected a wonderful upheaval of this kind. It raised over the sea-level, in certain districts, vast tracts that had been previously submerged, while in other districts it left the old limits unchanged. The high lands of Toryism received no new accession, while those of Liberalism it greatly enlarged. By elevating the long-buried heads of the people above water in the character of ten-pound franchise holders, it strengthened the trading interests or, to carry out our parallel, gave new standing-room to the trading towns; while the agricultural interests, located, if we may so speak, on the high table-lands of the country, remained no broader or stronger than they had been before. And so, in the great struggle which ensued between the two interests, the agricultural one went down, and free trade won the day. Party, in general, was not a little affected by this great upheaval. The new accessions were chiefly accessions made to the cause of Liberalism in general; but it did quite as little for hereditary Whigism as for hereditary Toryism; and either party feel, when in office, that it has had but the effect of making their position more precarious and less desirable than of old.... It has thrown them up nearer than of old to the chill line of perpetual ice and snow, and exposed them to the dangers of treacherous landslips, and sudden avalanches.

“What, let us ask, would be the effect of a still further upheaval of the political area, that would place the ten-pound franchise in the position of a second old coast line, by raising a widely-spread five-pound franchise out of it? To what regions of parties would such an upheaval add new breadth? In what regions would it leave the present limits unchanged? What would be its effect, for instance, on the various parties in Edinburgh?” This was written in the winter of 1856.

In 1850, a work entitled The Theory of Human Progression, and Natural Probability of a Reign of Justice, was published anonymously, and dedicated to Victor Cousin, the well-known Eclectic philosopher: and in the dedication it was enounced that “the truth I endeavour to inculcate is, that credence rules the world, that credence determines the condition and fixes the destiny of nations, that true credence must ever entail with it a correct and beneficial system of society, while false credence must ever be accompanied by despotism, anarchy, and wrong――that before a nation can change its condition it must change its credence; that change of credence will of necessity be accompanied sooner or later by change of condition; and, consequently, that true credence, or, in other words, knowledge, is the only means by which man can work out his well-being and ameliorate his condition on the globe.” The author, who thus described the object of his work, was Mr. Patrick E. Dove, a warm-hearted and patriotic Scotsman, who died in Australia in 1879.

The work is one of the class now ranked under the term of sociology. It is an able and well-reasoned effort, and though not often referred to directly, still it has had a marked influence in forming several political theories and views of political phenomena since current in this country. Mr. Dove was gifted with a vigorous mind, of a philosophic and scientific cast, and keen and generous sympathies. The principles and ideas of his work are clearly conceived and fairly elaborated.

It consists of four chapters, the first of which treats on the elements of human progression――the matters involved in political science, liberty, and property; the mode in which men have made laws; the combination of knowledge and reason, and the use and operation of this combination. In the second chapter he expounds his theory of man’s intellectual progression, and treats of the order of the sciences――their growth, their processes, their dependence, evolution, and present position; the character and position of political science; the province and object of political economy; the foundation of political society; socialism and communism; and many other points. In the third chapter he advances his theory of man’s practical progression, and presents an outline of the argument, that there is a natural probability in favour of the reign of justice; and in support of this view he reasons from the order of knowledge and science――natural truth, which becomes divine truth, and from the influence of Christianity; and illustrates at some length from the practical applications of science. The fourth chapter presents an historical sketch――an attempt to apprehend the sentiments of the human mind which have ruled society, and to appreciate the psychological development of man through historic manifestations. This was of itself a great and very difficult undertaking, and notwithstanding his grasp of principles, and his fine analytic and critical faculties, it is the crudest and the weakest part of his work.

In an appendix he presents a classification of the sciences; and though his work has defects, it is a remarkable effort. I am not aware if Mr. Dove was one of Sir W. Hamilton’s students, but I find ♦unmistakable traces of the influence of his psychology in The Theory of Human Progression.

♦ “unmistakeable” replaced with “unmistakable”

As a specimen of his style, and the interest of the subject, I shall give a quotation touching land:――“The question, then, is, upon what terms, or according to what system, must the earth be possessed by the successive generations that succeed each other on the surface of the globe? The conditions given are――First, that the earth is the common property of the race; second, that whatever an individual produces by his own labour is the private property of that individual, and he may dispose of it as he pleases, provided he does not interfere with his fellows; third, the earth is the perpetual common property of the race, and each succeeding generation has a full title to a free earth. One generation cannot encumber a succeeding generation.

“And the condition required is, such a system as shall secure to the successive individuals of the race their share of the common property, and the opportunity, without interference, of making as much private property as their skill and enterprise would enable them to make.

“The actual division of the soil need never be anticipated, nor would such a division be just, if the divided portions were made the property legally of individuals, for they could never be so morally.

“If, then, successive generations of men cannot have their fractional share of the actual soil, how can the division of the advantages of the natural earth be effected?

“By the division of its annual value or rent; that is, by making the rent of the soil the common property of the nations. That is, as the taxation is the common property of the State, by taking the whole of the taxes out of the rents of the soil, and thereby abolishing all other kinds of taxation whatever. And thus all industry would be absolutely emancipated from every burden, and every man would reap such natural reward as his skill, industry, or enterprise rendered legitimately his, according to the natural law of free competition. This we maintain to be the only theory that will satisfy the requirements of the problem of natural property.”¹

¹ Pages 384, 387. In a note he says:――“We have no hesitation whatever in predicting that all civilised communities must ultimately abolish all revenue restrictions on industry, ♦and draw the whole taxation from the rents of the soil. And this because the rents of the soil are the common produce of the whole labour of a community.”

♦ “und” replaced with “and”

Again: “Taxation can only be on land or labour. These are the two radical elements that can be subjected to taxation, capital being originally derived from one or the other. Capital is only hoarded labour or hoarded rent; and as all capital must be derived from the one source or the other, all taxation of capital is only taxation of land or labour. Consequently, all taxation of whatever kind is: 1st, taxation of labour, that is, a deduction from the natural remuneration which God intended the labourer to derive from his exertions; or, 2nd, taxation of land, that is, the appropriation of the current value of the natural earth to the expenses of the State.

“Now, labour is essentially private property, and land is not essentially private property, but, on the contrary, is the common inheritance of every generation of mankind. Where the land is taxed, no man is taxed, nor does the taxation of land interfere in any way whatever with the progress of human industry. On the contrary, the taxation of land, rightly directed, might be made to advance the condition of the country to a high degree of prosperity.”¹

¹ Pages 389‒390.

He was excessively fond of generalising, and frequently attempted it with matters which were not properly prepared for the process; as suggested in the following paragraph: “But beneath the outward variety of man’s historic representations, can we not plunge below the surface and seize some stable element, some scheme, some law, some generalised fact, some plan or principle on which the drama has been constructed, some permanent truth that evolves amid all the apparent diversity of images? Can we not transform the real elements as they appear into some abstract form that enables us to state them in a rational equation? Can we not apprehend the essential character of the changes, as well as their empirical character, and derive instruction for the reason, as well as materials for the memory and the understanding?”

His intellect was essentially deductive and logical. He loved to handle a principle, an idea, or a formula; but his mastery of method and expository powers were excellent. He is the author of several other important works, which I can only name: Elements of Political Science, 1854; and Logic of the Christian Faith, 1856.

George Gilfillan was born at Comrie, Perthshire, on the 30th January, 1813, where his father was minister of the Scottish Secession Church. He entered the University of Glasgow at the age of fourteen. After finishing his course of study in the University, he passed through the course of training in the Divinity Hall of the Secession Church. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in April 1835. For some time he passed from church to church preaching for ministers, or as a candidate in vacancies. In March 1836, he was ordained minister of the School Wynd church in Dundee, which was one of the early Secession congregations. The same year, on the 23rd of November, he married Margaret Valentine, who proved throughout his life an admirable help-meet.

He was a stalwart man. His erect figure, and massive head, the bold lustre of his eyes, and the sharp intellectual expression of his countenance, at once gave a striking impression of strength. He was a man of great energy, and marked ability. His intellectual faculties were naturally strong; yet his analytic power was not very remarkable. Perhaps, his position and the circumstances of his life were unfavourable to the development of the analytic side of the mind, while his feelings, sentiments, and emotions were exceedingly strong, and his sympathies wide and varied. His mind was impulsive and fervid. In the pulpit he delivered his sermons with great energy and vehemence, and soon became a popular preacher. He was also much esteemed as a popular lecturer, and his service was often solicited in different quarters of Scotland and beyond it. Between the years 1839‒48 he delivered some twenty lectures at the Watt Institution in Dundee, on such varied subjects as “The Relation of Religion to Painting,” “The Genius of Byron,” “Modern British Literature,” and various other themes. His popularity increased and extended, and for many years he was one of the most prominent men of Dundee.

He had an aspiration for distinction and literary fame. His literary activity was wonderful, and embraced a wide variety of subjects. Many of his early efforts first appeared in magazines and newspapers:――In Edinburgh University Magazine, The Dumfries Herald, Hogg’s Instructor, Tait’s Magazine, British Quarterly Review, Eclectic Review, The Critic, The Scottish Review, and other periodicals; and at a later stage of his life, he was a large contributor to the columns of the Dundee Advertiser and the People’s Friend. His papers in the above, were chiefly biographical and critical sketches, and reviews of books.

The first portion of his Gallery of Literary Portraits was published in 1845, the second in 1849, and the third in 1854; and in 1857 the whole appeared in two volumes. The work consists of biographical and critical sketches, which in the last edition were arranged under ♦six divisions thus:――Poets, French Revolutionists, Novelists, Critics, Miscellaneous Writers, and Sacred Authors. These sketches are vivid and graphic. His Bards of the Bible appeared in 1850, and was pretty successful. The Martyrs, Heroes, and Bards of the Scottish Covenant was published in 1852, and became the most popular of his works. His History of a Man appeared in 1856. This is a rather singular book――mainly autobiographical, but also presenting fictitious elements and sharp criticism. In 1857 his Christianity and our Era was published. It is a work of considerable power, and presents his views touching the signs of the “Second Advent of Christ.” His Poem entitled Night, on which he had spent much labour, appeared in 1867. From time to time he published a considerable number of his lectures and sermons. He edited a series of the British Poets; wrote a Life of Sir Walter Scott, published in 1870; a Life of the Rev. Dr. William Anderson in 1873; and a Life of Burns for the National Edition of the Poet’s works, published in 1878. His command of language was copious, and his descriptive power excellent. His style, however, is very unequal, loose, and discursive; yet many vivid, striking, and pathetic passages occur in his writings. His criticism though often telling, and sometimes stinging, is not of the highest character, for the natural bent of his mind hardly permitted him to calmly examine evidence, or estimate all the essential points.

♦ “five” replaced with “six”

Personally, he was a kind-hearted man. He was ever ready to assist those in whom he saw the buds of genius or talent. His death, which occurred suddenly on the 13th of August 1878, was mourned as a public loss to Scotland.

Dr. John Brown, a son of Professor Brown of the U. P. Church, was a medical practitioner in Edinburgh. In 1858 he published a volume entitled Horæ Subsecivæ, consisting of essays on Locke and Sydenham; Rab and his Friends, and other papers; and in 1861 he issued a second series of sketches of a similar character. These volumes are exceedingly interesting.

William Minto was born at Nether Auchentoul, in the parish of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on the 10th of October, 1845. He was educated at the parish schools of Alford and Tough, and subsequently at the Cordon Schools in Huntly, under the Rev. John Macdonald, who trained him in classics. He entered the University of Aberdeen in 1861, where he had a very distinguished career. In 1865 he graduated with highest honours in classics, second in mental philosophy, and second in mathematics; he also gained the Ferguson Scholarship for classics. In the summer of 1866 he went to Merton College, Oxford, and obtained an exhibition of £80, but he left Oxford in the end of the year and returned to Scotland. For a short time he acted as assistant to Mr. Thomson, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, and afterward as Professor Bain’s assistant in teaching the English class. In 1872 his volume, entitled A Manual of English Prose Literature appeared, and the same year he was appointed Examiner in Mental Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen.

In 1873 he went to London, obtained an appointment on the staff of the Examiner, and engaged in literary work. The following year he became editor of this paper, but it ceased to be issued in 1880. Minto then entered warmly into political writing upon the controversy of the time for the columns of the Daily News and the Pall Mall Gazette. He worked assiduously. Besides writing for newspapers, his interesting volume, Characteristics of English Poets, was published in 1874, and his volume on Defoe in the ♦“English Men of Letters” Series in 1879. He contributed twenty-six articles to the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which are mainly of a biographical and critical character. He also contributed a considerable number of articles on various subjects to the Fortnightly Review, The Nineteenth Century, Blackwood’s Magazine, and other periodicals.

♦ ‘“English Men of Letters Series in 1879.”’ replaced with ‘“English Men of Letters” Series in 1879.’

Upon the retirement of Dr. Bain from the Chair of Logic and English Literature in the University of Aberdeen in 1880, Minto was appointed his successor. He earnestly devoted attention to the subjects assigned to his chair, and proved in every respect an excellent teacher. His manner and tact won the affection of the students, and his faculty of interesting and instructing them was characteristic and thoroughly successful. He held the Chair for thirteen years, and took his share in the business of the Senatus and the University. He took a keen interest in educational matters, and frequently delivered lectures outside the University. Under the auspices of the Local Examination Committee of the Senatus Academicus, he delivered a course of lectures in the Music Hall of Aberdeen, on “The Literature of the Georgian Era,” in which he treated the writings of the poets and novelists of the eighteenth century, and the early part of the nineteenth.¹

¹ These “Lectures” were edited by Professor Knight, with a biographical introduction, and published in 1894.

He was always a hard worker. As stated in a preceding chapter, he wrote three novels. In 1887 he edited a complete edition of Sir Walter Scott’s Poems. He edited the Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William B. Scott (a painter and writer) which was published in 1892; and is a work of much interest and value. He had just corrected the last proofs of his volume on Logic――Inductive and Deductive, before his death. He had been in weak health for some months and confined to his house, but his mind continued active and hopeful to the last. He died on the 1st of March 1893, in the forty-eighth year of his age.

John Veitch was born in Peebles on the 29th of October, 1829. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he came under the influence of Sir William Hamilton, and was a distinguished student. In 1855 he was appointed assistant to Hamilton; and he held this post under Professor Campbell Fraser until 1860, when he was elected Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics in the University of St. Andrews. In 1864 he was appointed to the Chair of Logic and Rhetoric in the University of Glasgow, which he filled with much credit for a period of thirty years. He died in September 1894.

His writings cover a varied range of topics. In conjunction with Mr. H. L. Mansel, he edited Sir William Hamilton’s Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic――an undertaking which entailed much work. He wrote a lengthy Memoir of Sir William, which is the standard work on the subject. His translation of the Method, Meditations and Principles of Descartes, with an introduction and notes, is a very useful book for students. His Essay on Lucretius and the Atomic Theory appeared in 1875, and is a very interesting effort. His Institutes of Logic evince a wide and accurate historical knowledge of logical doctrine. In his Knowing and Being published in 1889, he touched on metaphysical problems, and criticised some of Hegel’s conceptions. His labours, however, in other branches of literature are perhaps more notable. In 1878 his History and Poetry of the Scottish Borders appeared, and is a valuable and interesting contribution to this branch of literature. A second edition has been issued. His work entitled The Feeling for Nature in Scottish Poetry published in 1887, is pervaded by fine feeling and an elevated tone of expression. He had a poetic aspiration and feeling, and wrote several poems――The Tweed, Merlin, and others. His mind presented a characteristic combination of philosophic insight and poetic fervour.

John Stuart Blackie was born in Glasgow on the 28th of July, 1809. In 1812 his father, who was a banker, removed to Aberdeen to manage the branch of the Commercial Bank of Scotland. At the age of twelve he entered Marischal College, where he attended classes for three years, and subsequently he studied at Edinburgh University. In 1829 he proceeded to Germany, and pursued his studies at Göttingen and Berlin, and finally in Italy. On returning to Scotland, he studied law, and was called to the Scottish Bar in 1834; but it appears that he never practiced, his talents were ill-suited for the profession. For some years he was engaged in writing articles for periodicals. In 1841 he was appointed to the Chair of Humanity in Marischal College, Aberdeen, and he ardently devoted his attention to the work. In 1852 he was appointed Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh. He held this Chair for thirty years, resigning it in 1882.

Blackie was a man of remarkable talents, and considerable culture associated with keen feelings and wide sympathies. These were combined in his peculiar personality with many comic eccentricities, which sharply distinguished him from all his contemporaries. He was very energetic outside the University, and delivered popular lectures in different quarters of the country, which were instructive and always highly amusing, calling forth applause and roars of laughter. He took a deep interest in the Highlands, and was a warm friend of the crofters, advocating their cause with much enthusiasm. It was mainly by his exertions that a Celtic Chair was established in Edinburgh University. He died at Edinburgh on the 2nd of March, 1895.

His energy was great. A noted traveller, he embraced every opportunity of observing men and things. A most versatile writer, he delivered his views on many subjects: comprising morals, religion, and political philosophy, songs, ballads, poetry, Gaelic literature, and translations. The following include his more important works――A metrical translation of Goethe’s Faust published in 1834, of which a second edition with emendations was issued; A translation of the Lyrical Dramas of Æschylus in English verse published in 1850, in two volumes; Songs and Legends of Ancient Greece appeared in 1857; Homer and the Iliad, in four volumes, containing a translation of the Iliad in ballad measure, dissertations and notes, published in 1866. Four Phases of Morals, as represented by Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity, and Utilitarianism――a series of lectures; Natural History of Atheism, issued in 1877, and intended to be a defence of theism against the modern tendencies of speculation; Self-Culture, Intellectual, Physical, and Moral. This work was one of his most successful efforts, many editions of it having been issued both in Britain and America. He was a great admirer and lover of Scottish songs and ballads, and was himself a writer of songs and verse. In 1872 his Lays of the Highlands appeared, in which there is vivid and effective writing, and considerable artistic combination. His Songs of Religion and Life was issued in 1876, and shows clearly that he was not a creed-limited devotee, but rather a worshipper in the great and glorious universe. Altavona――Fact and Fiction from my Life in the Highlands was published in 1882, and is an interesting volume. His Scottish Song: its wealth, wisdom and social significance, issued in 1889, is an excellent book. He wrote a Life of Burns, and a number of other works.

The chief characteristics of Professor Blackie’s style are freshness, cheerfulness, touches of pathos, comic turns, and wit. His main philosophical idea was founded upon Aristotle’s doctrine that “all extremes are wrong.” This was a special feature in his political opinions.

In the department of travels and exploration, Scotland has contributed her share, as the names of Bruce, Mungo Park, Livingstone, and others testify.

James Bruce was born at Kinnaird House, in Stirlingshire, in 1730. He was intended for the legal profession; but he was averse to the irksome study of law, and commenced business as a wine-merchant in London. Having visited Spain and Portugal, his attention was attracted to the architectural ruins and tales of the Moorish dominion; he earnestly devoted himself to the study of Eastern antiquities and languages. When he returned to England, it was proposed that he should make a journey to Barbary, and he was appointed to the consulship of Algiers. He left England and arrived at Algiers in 1762. Bruce spent six years at Algiers and in various travels, and having surveyed and sketched the ruins of Palmyra and Baalbec, he reached Alexandria in 1768. He then proceeded to Cairo, embarked on the Nile, and arrived at Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia. After a short stay there, he started for the sources of Bahr-el-Azrek, under the impression that this was the main branch of the Nile. At length the spot was pointed out to him by his guide, a hillock of green sod in the middle of a watery plain. The king of Abyssinia conferred high personal distinctions on Bruce. Returning through the great deserts of Nubia to Egypt, he encountered extreme hardships and dangers from the sand-storms and simoom of the desert.

After his return home, some parts of the narrative of his travels reached the public, and were much ridiculed and discredited. Even the sage Johnson doubted whether Bruce had ever been in Abyssinia! A complete account of his travels was published in 1790, in five volumes. But his statements were still deemed a fitting theme for the sneers and lampoons of the critics and wits of the time; and though Bruce felt these attacks keenly, he was an honourable and proud-spirited man, and scorned to reply to such impeachments of his veracity. He died in 1804.

A second and third edition of his travels were published within eight years after his death. The general accuracy of his work, and the correctness of his drawings and maps, have long ago been confirmed from many different quarters. His style is prolix, but sometimes animated.

Mungo Park was born at Fowlshiels, in the vicinity of Stirling, in 1771. He studied for the medical profession; and, under the auspices of the African Association, formed in 1778 for the purpose of promoting discovery in the interior of Africa, he embarked in May, 1795. On the 21st of June he arrived at Jillifree, on the banks of the Gambia. Thence he proceeded towards the kingdom of Bambarra, and there he saw the chief object of his mission, the river Niger, flowing towards the east. Park’s narrative of his journey――the various incidents, the sufferings which he encountered, his captivity among the Moors, and the manners, customs, and trade of the inhabitants, are all intensely interesting. He returned to England in the end of the year 1797; and, in 1799, his travels were published. His style is marked by simplicity, clearness, and fine moral feeling.

But his active mind and spirit was not satisfied, and he longed to renew his travels. He again sailed from England, arriving at Goree in the end of March, 1805. The expedition, which at first consisted of forty-five men, but now reduced to seven, was unfortunate. At Sansanding, he built a boat to continue his voyage down the river, and entered it on the 17th of November, 1805, resolved to discover the termination of the Niger or to perish in the attempt. After the party had sailed several days, on passing a rocky part of the river named Boussa, the natives attacked them, and Park himself and one of his companions were drowned while attempting to escape by swimming. His letters and journals had been sent to Gambia before embarking on the fatal voyage, and an account of the journey, compiled from these, was published in 1815.

The exploration of the interior of Africa long continued to be an object of adventurous and worthy ambition, and a number of men have spent the better part of their lives in such undertakings. Our countryman, David Livingstone, as a missionary and an explorer of Africa, takes a high rank. He was a man inured to hard labour from his youth, and his great work in Africa, his noble and well-considered efforts to enlighten and civilise the natives of the countries which he visited, are unrivalled in the records of travellers, and will still be fresh in the minds of many of the present generation.

Livingstone’s labours in Africa fall naturally into three periods. The first, extending from 1841 to 1857, in which he worked in Southern Africa as a missionary, and made various expeditions into the interior of the country. Having returned home, his Researches in South Africa were published in 1857, and is a deeply interesting volume. It describes his long and often perilous journeys, and contains much original information touching the natives, the geography, botany, and natural products of Africa.

The second period extends from 1858 to 1864: early in the former year he set out on his second important mission. In May he had reached the mouth of the Zambesi. In January the following year he explored the river and valley of the Shire, where a white man had never before been seen. He proceeded up the Shire some two hundred miles, till stopped by the Murchison Falls. He found the Shire valley fertile and cultivated. By an overland march of twenty days from Shire, in September, 1860, he discovered the great lake of Nyassa. He afterwards revisited it, and concluded that the lake was about two hundred miles long and forty broad. The country was studded with villages, and the natives of the Shire and Nyassa valleys had good iron, and were manufacturers as well as agriculturists. Livingstone returned to England in 1864, and recorded his explorations in a Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries, and of the discovery of the lakes Sherwa and Nyassa.

In 1866, Livingstone started on his third and last expedition. In March he left Zanzibar and struck up the country towards lake Nyassa. For seven years he bravely prosecuted his travels and labours in Africa, suffering many hardships and dangers. At last, worn out, he died on the 1st of May, 1873. He had before expressed a wish to die in the still forest, “and no hand ever disturb my bones.” But so beloved was he when alive, that his body was rudely embalmed by his faithful followers, and carried by them hundreds of miles to Zanzibar, whence it was conveyed to England and interred in Westminster Abbey, on the 18th of April, 1874. Thus lived and died Dr. Livingstone, a man equally remarkable for his great intelligence and sagacity, his warm-hearted and wide sympathies, which were admirably exerted for the elevation and good of the natives of Africa; his bravery, fortitude, and endurance were wonderful, and his strength of will and perseverance unmatched. He was the first who called public attention to the suffering and horrors of the East African slave trade, which he continued to expose throughout his life; and his whole career was a noble struggle for the enlightenment, improvement, and civilisation of the natives of Africa.

Before closing this chapter, it seems requisite to give a brief account of the rise of newspapers and periodical literature. During Cromwell’s rule in Scotland there were some reprints of English news published in Edinburgh; after the Restoration two attempts were made to issue newspapers, but neither of them continued long. The first regular Scottish newspaper was the Edinburgh Gazette, established in 1699. The first Glasgow newspaper, called the Glasgow Courant, containing the occurrences both at home and abroad, appeared on the 14th of November, 1715; it was published thrice a week, but only lived about seven months. The second newspaper published in Glasgow appeared on the 20th of July, 1741, under the name of the Glasgow Journal, and it continued to be issued for upwards of half a century. On the 14th of October, 1745, the first number of the second Glasgow Courant was issued; and in 1783 the Glasgow Advertiser first appeared.¹ The Aberdeen Journal appeared in 1748. Newspapers continued slowly to increase in number till the end of the century; but it is chiefly within the last fifty years, and especially since the abolition of the stamp duty in 1855, and the duty on paper in 1861, that the newspaper press has attained its great development.

¹ Macgregor’s History of Glasgow, pages 295, 335, 336, 386.

The class of what may be called literary periodical papers, as distinguished from newspapers, began to appear in Scotland early in the eighteenth century. In 1711, a paper of this description was published in Edinburgh, and continued through thirty weekly numbers, under the name of The Tatler. Soon after this a number of periodical papers appeared, and disappeared again, but few of them had much merit. The Echo ran its weekly numbers from 1729 to 1733; The Review appeared in 1737; and The Letters of the Critical Club in 1738; The Mirror and Lounger, a periodical published in Edinburgh, attained a higher reputation. In January, 1739, the first number of The Scots Magazine appeared, and was continued till 1826. It contains a store of events, facts, interesting pictures of manners, characters, and incidents, extending over a period of well-nigh a century.

I have already referred to the establishment of the Edinburgh Review, and the influence which it wielded. Blackwood’s Magazine first appeared in 1817, and Tait’s Magazine in 1833; and about the latter date the Messrs. Chambers began to issue their instructive and cheap periodical publications, many of which attained a wide circulation. There are now magazines devoted to almost every department of knowledge, and to nearly every variety of opinion and doctrine; even every party and interest deem it necessary to be represented in the periodical press.

The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published in 1771, in four volumes, under the editorship of Mr. William Smellie. The second edition of this work was begun in 1776, and it extended to ten volumes, embracing biography and history. The third edition, enlarged to eighteen volumes, was completed in 1797; and which contained many original treatises on physical science, and able and valuable articles by Professor Robison, Dr. Doig, and the ingenious editor of the later volumes――the Rev. Dr. George Gleig. Two supplementary volumes were afterwards added to the work. The fourth edition, under the editorship of Dr. James Miller, was finished in 1810, enriched by several scientific treatises and many valuable articles by William Wallace, professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. The next two editions were nearly nominal reprints; but the supplement projected by Mr. Constable contained contributions from many of the most ♦eminent writers of the time――Sir Walter Scott, Jeffrey, James Mill, Dr. Thomas Young, Playfair, Leslie, Mackintosh, Dugald Stewart,¹ M. Arago, M. Biot, and others. The seventh edition under the editorship of Mr. Napier, ably assisted by Dr. James Browne, was completed in 1842, in twenty-one volumes; and contained many new and valuable articles, along with the supplements mentioned above. The eighth edition of this great national work was completed in 1861; and the ninth edition, under the editorship of accomplished and learned gentlemen, was completed in 1888.

♦ “emiment” replaced with “eminent”

¹ Large sums were paid to some of these writers for their Dissertations and Articles. Dugald Stewart was to receive £1000 for his Dissertation on Metaphysical Philosophy, and Playfair for one on the Progress of Natural Philosophy £500; Stewart actually received £1600, and Playfair would have received an additional £500 had he lived to complete his Dissertation. Such large sums had never before been given for literary work in Scotland.

The Edinburgh Encyclopædia, under the editorship of Sir David Brewster, was commenced in 1808, and completed in 1830, in eighteen quarto volumes. The scientific portions of this work are valuable, and were long highly appreciated.

The first edition of Chambers’ Cyclopædia of English Literature was published in 1843; and several revised and enlarged editions have since been issued, in two large volumes. It is a useful and generally accurate work. The later editions had the benefit of the extensive information and the fine literary taste of the late Mr. Robert Carruthers, of Inverness, who thoroughly revised the whole work. The Messrs. Chambers have also published an Encyclopædia, which is very highly esteemed as a work of reference. A new and revised edition of this excellent work has just been completed.

So much for the modern literature of Scotland.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

Chapter XLIV

_Progress of Science in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries._

SECTION I.

Physical Science.

IT should be understood that the aim of this chapter is not to present a history of science, but chiefly to indicate what Scotland has contributed to the science of the period, and to show the importance of science as a factor in advancing civilisation. It will, therefore, in the first place, touch on the significance and progress of mathematical science; in the second, on physical science, or natural philosophy; and in the third, on mechanical science, or science in relation to its practical application.

From an early period various conceptions of the universe have been entertained; even Newton’s conception of it and his system founded on the theory of gravitation are not quite satisfactory. Hence his followers for a long time mainly occupied themselves in defending and explaining his system; they were loth to recognise that either his method or system was susceptible of improvement or extension――they adhered to his conclusions with extreme tenacity and superstitious veneration. While, in other parts of Europe, Descartes’ theory of the universe held the field, the earliest recorded recognition of Newton’s principles in France was in a memoir by Lonville, which appeared in a volume of the Academy of Sciences for the year 1720; and the first French astronomer who ventured on a defence of the theory of gravitation was Maupertius, in his work on the figures of the celestial bodies, published in 1732. He compared the theories of Descartes and Newton, and came to a conclusion in favour of the latter. It was Voltaire, however, that really diffused a knowledge of Newton’s system in France, by the publication, in 1738, of his clear exposition of Newton’s discoveries in optics and astronomy. Henceforth in France the Newtonian system prevailed over the theory of Descartes.

The controversy touching the priority of the invention of the calculus between Newton and Leibnitz was an unfortunate affair, as it arose from trivial incidents. In short, from the first Leibnitz admitted Newton’s priority in forming the conception of the calculus; but he maintained, what was doubtless true, his own originality in the invention of the differential calculus. This branch of mathematical analysis was not much advanced by Newton and the English geometers of his time; as Newton himself was fond of geometrical forms and the synthetical method of statement. His treatise on Fluxions was not published till after his death in 1736. When, however, it became known that the differential calculus was rapidly circulating on the Continent――and so little was Newton’s method known, that Leibnitz was regarded throughout Europe as its original inventor――the followers of Newton began to feel that this impression was unjust towards their great teacher, and hence the bitterness of the controversy which ensued. The result was a wide alienation between the English and foreign mathematicians, which had a pernicious effect on science. “Each party became the exclusive supporters of the two great luminaries of their respective countries. The British mathematicians, in particular, adhered with the most rigid pertinacity to the very letter of Newton’s methods; and were, with few exceptions, completely ignorant both of the original investigations of the other party, and of the improvements upon them which were being rapidly introduced.

“The difference in name and notation between the two methods, though in itself a trivial circumstance, was yet far from unimportant in some of the consequences which may be fairly traced to it. It tended in some measure to foster and increase the dissension between the two schools, and their ignorance of each other’s researches; while the diversity itself between the two methods, though in reality little more than nominal, became also a topic of no small dispute and controversy. But much as these differences were on all grounds to be lamented, the loss in point of scientific advantages, it must with shame be confessed, were almost entirely on the side of Britain.”¹

¹ Powell’s History of the Physical and Mathematical Sciences, page 363. 1834.

If we reflect upon the past three centuries and ask what were the most requisite means of aiding men in their investigation of nature and the explanation of the phenomena of the universe, the answer must be mathematical science. In astronomy and in other branches of physical science, mathematics are indispensable; for as the universe exists in space and time――the two concepts which encircle all things――so it is a universal truth, that mathematics are not only the prime requisites in physical science, but also essential elements in navigation, engineering, shipbuilding, architecture, and in many other arts.

In the early part of the eighteenth century Scotland produced one eminent mathematician――Colin Maclaurin¹――and several others of lesser note. He was a native of Kilmodan, in Argyleshire, a son of a clergyman, was educated at the University of Glasgow, and early manifested an aptness for mathematics. In 1717, before he had attained his twentieth year, he was elected, after a ten days’ competition, Professor of Mathematics in Marischal College, Aberdeen; but in 1725, he was appointed assistant and successor to Dr. Gregory in the Chair of Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. It is recorded that he was an able and successful instructor, and that in his public teaching he clearly explained the application of his science to purposes of utility and the perfecting of the mechanical arts.²

¹ Born in 1698; died in 1746.

² He soon became the leading spirit in the University of Edinburgh, and the celebrity which the Chair of Mathematics had attained under the Gregories was admirably sustained and even extended by him. In the Scots Magazine, in 1741, a full programme of Maclaurin’s courses of academical instruction is given as follows:――“He gave every year three courses, and sometimes a fourth, upon such of the ♦abstruse parts of the science as were not explained in the former three. The first course contained――Demonstrations of the ground of Vulgar and Decimal Arithmetic; six books of Euclid; Plane Trigonometry and use of the tables of Logarithms, Sines, etc.; Surveying, Fortification, and other practical parts; the Elements of Algebra; and a lecture on Geography once a fortnight.

“The second course consisted of――Algebra; the Theory and Mensuration of Solids; Spherical Trigonometry, the doctrine of the Sphere, Dialling, and other practical parts; Conic Sections, with the theory of Gunnery; the Elements of Astronomy and Optics. He began the third course with Perspective; then treated more fully of Astronomy and Optics. After this he prelected on Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, and explained the direct and inverse method of Fluxions. At a separate hour he gave a course of Experimental Philosophy, beginning about the middle of December, which continued thrice every week till the beginning of April; and at proper hours of the night he described the constellations, and showed the planets by telescopes of various kinds.” This was a comprehensive course of teaching. He also exerted himself to the utmost to provide an Observatory for the instruction of students in the University of Edinburgh, and would have been successful but for his early death. Although the foundation of an Observatory was laid in Edinburgh by the Town Council and Senatus, on the 25th June, 1776, it was not until 1834 that the Observatory was rendered available for the practical instruction of students of the University.

It has been said that in “Maclaurin’s time the teaching of mathematics reached a point which it cannot be said to have yet surpassed.”――Sir A. Grant’s Story of the University of Edinburgh, Volume II., page 299.

♦ “abtruse” replaced with “abstruse”

His works are these:――(1) Geometrica Organica; (2) A Complete System of Fluxions; (3) Treatise on Algebra; (4) Account of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy; (5) Various elegant and ingenious papers published in the Transactions of the Royal Society; and (6) A Memoir on the Tides.

In connection with his Memoir on the Tides, written in 1740, he gained equal honour with Euler and Daniel ♦Bernoulli, a famous Italian mathematician, as the prize of the French Academy of Sciences was equally divided among them. All the three adopted the principle of gravitation as the basis on which they attempted to explain the phenomena of the tides; and the results which they arrived at, presumed the earth to be at rest and the waters of the ocean also, and at every moment in a state of equilibrium between the force of gravity tending to the earth’s centre, and the lesser forces tending towards the sun and moon. This view is known as the equilibrium theory; and though it is far from perfect, it correctly indicates a part of the phenomena of the tides, notwithstanding that the problem of the tides is a dynamical and not a statical one. Subsequently the important subject of the tides was treated at great length by Laplace, but unfortunately his tidal theory was so profound that very few men have ever attempted to master its difficulties. The late Mr. Airy, the Astronomer Royal, however, gave to the public a connected and clear view of it.¹

♦ “Bernouilli” replaced with “Bernoulli”

¹ Mr. Airy summed up the merits of Laplace’s theory thus:――“If, putting from our thoughts the details of the investigation, we consider the general plan and objects, we must allow it to be one of the most splendid works of the greatest mathematician of the past age. To appreciate this, the reader must consider――first, the boldness of the writer who, having a clear understanding of the gross imperfection of the methods of his predecessors, had also the courage deliberately to take up the problem on grounds fundamentally correct, however it might be limited by suppositions afterwards introduced; secondly, the general difficulty of treating the motions of fluids; thirdly, the peculiar difficulty of treating the motions when the fluids cover an area which is not plane but convex; and fourthly, the sagacity of perceiving that it was necessary to consider the earth as a revolving body, and the skill of directly introducing this consideration. The last point alone, in our opinion, gives a greater claim for reputation than the boasted explanation of the long inequality of Jupiter and Saturn.”――Encyclopædia Metroa, “Tides and Waves,” Article 117; compare Grant’s History of Astronomy, page 71, et seq.

After Laplace, the theory of the tides has been treated by Dr. Thomas Young; and Dr. Whewell and Sir John Lubbock were engaged for many years in determinating the laws of the tides by observation, and in tracing their connection with the positions of the sun and moon. The chief results of their researches were published from time to time in a series of papers, in the volumes of the Royal Society.

Maclaurin also entered the arena in defence of the Fluxional system, which was boldly attacked by Berkeley, the famous Idealist, in The Analyst, published in 1734. Berkeley argued that the fundamental idea of supposing a finite ratio to exist between terms absolutely evanescent is completely absurd and unintelligible, and with biting sarcasm called these ratios “the ghosts of departed quantities.” Dr. Irwin produced a reply, and several others appeared on both sides; but Maclaurin and Robins made the most satisfactory defence of the principle of limiting ratios. Still the point was not thoroughly cleared up, till D’Alembert showed the real application of the principle of limits in the simplest form; and at last Lagrange, in his theory of Functions, discarded all idea of infinitesimals and limits, and reduced the whole to a simple algebraical investigation, by the development of functions in series.

Maclaurin’s method and style in the solution of problems were greatly admired. He showed in his applications of mathematics to physical problems a rare power of seizing the really important points amidst a mass of irrelevant details. In private life he was one of the best and worthiest of men.

James Stirling,¹ another distinguished Scottish mathematician, was a native of Stirlingshire. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, and afterwards on Snell’s foundation at Oxford. While studying at Oxford, he printed, in 1717, a small tract on “lines of the third order, with new solutions of some difficult problems by the fluxionary calculus.” Subsequently he accepted an invitation to settle at Venice, where he remained for several years and taught mathematics.

¹ Born about the end of the seventeenth century, and died in 1772.

Having returned home, he opened a mathematical school on Tower Hill, and maintained a correspondence with philosophers at home and abroad. In 1730, he published his well-known work on The Differential Method and Series. After toiling in his school for several years, he was induced to leave London, and undertake the direction of the mines at Leadhills in Scotland. In that elevated region, near Sanquhar, he resided during the rest of his life; and by his skill, intelligence, and energy, greatly improved the operations of extracting the lead ore. He now held a good position; but his high mathematical fame would have secured to him the honour of succeeding Maclaurin in the chair of mathematics in Edinburgh, in 1746, if he had not at that unhappy time been tainted with Jacobite opinions.¹ In his later years he seems to have confined himself to practical concerns.

¹ Leslie’s Dissertation for the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Matthew Stewart was elected to the vacant chair of mathematics in Edinburgh. He was a mathematician of note in the department of geometry; and is the author of Tracts, Physical and Mathematical. Robert Simson, who long held the chair of mathematics in the University of Glasgow, was a distinguished geometer. The names of Playfair and Leslie may also be mentioned as distinguished professors and learned mathematicians.

Passing to physical science, it is necessary to observe that in the eighteenth century the several branches of this department were not then so clearly distinguished from each other as they are now. The subject of heat was treated as a branch of chemistry; while chemistry itself was usually conceived as a mere appendage to medicine. Dr. Cullen was the first in Britain who assigned to chemistry its proper place as a science.

Dr. Black, the eminent professor of chemistry, and the discoverer of latent heat, was born in France, in 1728, where his father was then engaged in the wine trade. He received the rudiments of his education at Belfast; and in 1746, he entered the University of Glasgow, and under Dr. Cullen, was instructed in the science of chemistry, in which he showed much aptitude. As he intended to follow the medical profession, he went to Edinburgh to complete his studies, and graduated in 1754. Before this, he had prosecuted a series of chemical experiments touching the causticity of many earthy bodies, which resulted in his first discovery of the existence of fixed air or carbonic acid gas as an essential constituent of marble and other solids, along with a train of important consequences.

In 1755, Dr. Cullen removed to Edinburgh, and in 1756, Dr. Black succeeded him as professor of medicine and chemistry in the University of Glasgow. At this time he directed special attention to the subject of heat. He had discovered the phenomenon of “Latent Heat” at least as early as 1758, and taught the doctrine in his lectures at Glasgow.¹ He was the first who formed distinct ideas on the subject.

¹ Dr. Black himself, writing in 1780, said:――“I began to give the doctrine of latent heat in my lectures at Glasgow, in the winter 1757‒58, which I believe was the first winter of my lecturing there, or, if I did not give it that winter, I certainly gave it in 1758‒59, and I have delivered it every year since that time in my winter lectures, which I continued to give at Glasgow until winter 1766‒67, when I began to lecture in Edinburgh.”――Letter of Dr. Black to Mr. Watt, 1708, quoted by Muirhead in his Life of James Watt, pages 309‒310.

He deduced the discovery of latent heat from experiments showing that ice in being melted absorbs 140° of heat, which becomes latent in the water produced, thus:――“The melting ice receives heat very fast, but the only effect of this heat is to change it into water, which is not in the least sensibly warmer than the ice was before. A thermometer, applied to the drops or small streams of water, immediately as it comes from the melting ice, will point to the same degree as when it is applied to the ice itself.... A great quantity, therefore, of the heat, or of the matter of heat, which enters into the melting ice, produces no other effect but to give it fluidity, without augmenting its sensible heat; it appears to be absorbed and concealed within the water, so as not to be discoverable by the application of a thermometer.”¹ By comparing the time required to change the ice from 28° to 32°, with the subsequent time required for its complete liquefaction, he found that it absorbed about 140 times as much heat as would raise its temperature one degree; and he also found that one pound of ice, when mixed with one pound of water, was just melted, but not raised in its temperature above 32°. So he concluded that water differed from ice of the same temperature by containing a great quantity of heat or the cause of heat, which would not quit it for another colder body, nor go into the liquor of the thermometer and expand it. This phenomenon, considered as the possible cause of heat, was latent, and Black accordingly called it “latent heat.”²

¹ Black’s Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Volume I., page 119. 1803.

² Black’s Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Volume I., pages 120‒132.

This discovery was connected with his experiments and researches on boiling and evaporation, which ultimately resulted in laying the foundation of the practical application of steam. He concluded that a great quantity of heat becomes latent during the conversion of water into vapour or steam; and he endeavoured to determine this quantity by experiment. He found that the latent heat in steam, which balanced the pressure of the atmosphere, was upwards of 800°. He also directed Dr. Irvine of Glasgow, one of his own pupils, to make an experiment for measuring the heat actually extricated from steam during its condensation in the refrigeratory of a still, which was found to be 774°. A few weeks after, Mr. James Watt made similar experiments on steam with a similar still; and the medium result of these trials gave 825°.¹ It may be observed that, in these early experiments, the latent heat of steam was considerably underrated.

¹ Ibid., pages 144‒174. I deem it of interest to give a few brief quotations from Dr. Black’s lectures on the latent heat of steam, to indicate his views. “I immediately set about boiling off small quantities of water, and I found that it was accomplished in times very nearly proportional to the quantities, even although the fire was sensibly irregular.

“My conjecture, when put into form, was to this purpose: ――I imagined that during the boiling, heat is absorbed by the water, and enters into the composition of the vapour produced from it, in the same manner as it is absorbed by ice in melting, and enters into the composition of the produced water. And, as the ostensible effect of the heat, in this last case, consists not in warming the surrounding bodies, but in rendering the ice fluid, so in the case of boiling, the heat absorbed does not warm surrounding bodies, but converts the water into vapour. In both cases, considered as the cause of warmth, we do not perceive its presence: it is concealed, or latent, and I give it the name of Latent Heat....

“I put into a very strong phial about as much water as half filled it, and I corked it close. The phial was placed in a sand-pot, which was gradually heated, until the sand and the phial were several degrees above the common vaporific point of water. I was curious to know what would be the effect of suddenly removing the pressure of the air, which is well known to prevent water from boiling. The water boiled a very short while, but the ebullition gradually decreased, till it was almost insensible. Here the formation of more vapour was opposed by a very strong pressure proceeding from the quantity of vapour already accumulated and confined in the upper part of the phial, and from the increased elasticity of this vapour, by the increase of its heat. When matters were in this state, I drew the cork. Now, according to the common opinion of the formation of vapour by heat, it was to be expected that the whole of the water would suddenly assume the vaporous form, because it was all heated above the vaporific point. But I was beginning by this time to expect a different event, because I could not see whence the heat was to be supplied, which the water must contain when in the form of vapour. Accordingly, it happened as I expected: a portion only of the water was converted into vapour, which rushed out of the phial with a considerable explosion, carrying along with it some drops of water. But, what was most interesting to me in this experiment, was, that the heat of what remained was reduced in an instant to the ordinary boiling point. Here, therefore, it was evident that all that excess of heat which the water had contained above the boiling point, was spent in converting only a portion of it into vapour. This is plainly inconsistent with the common opinion, that nothing more is necessary for water’s existing in a vaporous form under the pressure of the atmosphere, than its being raised to a certain temperature....

“This experiment was afterwards made by my friend Mr. Watt, in a very satisfactory manner. His studies for the improvement of the steam-engine gave him a great interest in everything relating to the production of steam.”――Pages 159‒160.

In 1781, Dr. Black said to the students of his class:――“I think it sufficient to inform you that Mr. Watt, in the course of his studies on the steam-engine, has made all the necessary experiments with the most scrupulous care, knowing that the improvement of that noble engine must depend entirely on an exact knowledge of the procedure of nature in the formation and condensation of steam. Mr. Watt informs me that he has observed as exact coincidence between the heat rendered latent in the vapour, and that which emerges from it, as can be desired; and that the heat obtainable from steam, capable of sustaining the ordinary pressure of the atmosphere, is not less than 900° of Fahrenheit’s scale, and that it does not exceed 950°.”――Ibid., page 174.

Dr. Black also contributed to advance the knowledge of Specific Heat; but he chiefly left the development of this branch in the hands of his pupil Dr. Irvine, who was professor of chemistry in the University of Glasgow from 1769 to 1786, and to Mr. Watt, for both of whom he had the greatest respect.

In 1766, Dr. Black was appointed professor of chemistry in the University of ♦Edinburgh, in succession to Dr. Cullen; and he filled this chair with much credit to himself and advantage to the University, until his death in 1799. He was a very successful instructor; his lectures in the class-room were described by those who heard them as inimitable, and so interesting that they never failed to rivet attention.¹ Thus his influence on the progress and the diffusion of science by his teaching for the long period of forty-three years, and his intercourse with society, was great and highly beneficial to his country and to the world.

♦ “Ediuburgh” replaced with “Edinburgh”

¹ Professor Robson, one of his pupils, and the editor of his lectures, says that Dr. Black endeavoured every year to make his course of lectures more plain, and illustrated them by more examples in the way of experiment. So the students in his class “were not only instructed, but delighted; and he became a favourite lecturer, and many were induced, by the report of his students, to attend his courses.”

Another branch of the science of heat was taken up by Sir John Leslie;¹ he directed his attention to “Radiant Heat”――heat propagated from hot bodies to sensible distances. Sir John was educated at the University of St. Andrews, and early manifested a bent for mathematical studies. His work on the Nature and Propagation of Heat, which appeared in 1804, first brought him into notice; and the following year he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh.

¹ Born in 1766, and died in 1832.

The fact that heat is radiant, passing through space like light, was known at an early period; and various experiments had been made, and some of the phenomena which characterise it indicated; but heat in its radiant form was not systematically investigated till towards the end of the eighteenth century. The band of scientific men then engaged on this subject were Pictet, Prevost, Rumford, and Herschel; the first two were professors in Geneva, and were earlier in the field than Leslie. In 1791, Pictet’s work entitled Essai sur le Feu appeared, which contains observations on latent and specific heat, and on the power of different surfaces to reflect and absorb it. He showed that radiant heat moves with great velocity. His treatise also embraced observations on hygrometry, on various points of meteorology, and on friction heat. He has the merit of establishing the meteorological observations at the convent of the Great St. Bernard, and thus commenced a series which has proved exceedingly interesting to scientific men.

Prevost is the author of the theory termed the “Movable Equilibrium of Heat.” His fundamental idea is that heat is a substance related with bodies of a highly elastic nature, continually given off from them in proportion to their temperature, which may represent the tension of the imaginary elastic fluid. Thus, when the temperature of a body is stationary, it is because it receives by radiation from surrounding bodies exactly as much heat as it parts with in the same way.¹ His views were first published in 1791.

¹ Dr. Forbes’s Dissertation for the Encyclopædia Britannica, page 944. 1856.

Leslie was an ingenious and able experimenter. But unfortunately he started his researches with some rather dogmatic preconceptions; he had a notion that the pressure of air is essential to the propagation of heat; nevertheless, many of his experiments are interesting and valuable. He used a thermoscopic instrument constructed by himself, which he called the differential thermometer; it is an ingenious modification of the common air thermometer. He showed that the radiating or emissive effect of different surfaces varied from 100° to 12°. He also showed by experiment that the radiation of heat from a plane surface proceeds with unequal force in different directions. When the specific heating power of the colorific rays is measured in a direction perpendicular to the surface whence it emanates, it is found to be at a maximum; and at any other angle with the surface, it varies as the sine of the angle. Afterwards this was also found to prevail in the case of light. His experiments to prove that the law of radiation of heat varies inversely as the square of the distance were not quite conclusive.

He considered the influence of colour on the heating of bodies by original experiment; and it was found to be effectual only when the radiations were luminous. He engaged in long and ingenious researches touching the law of cooling bodies, embracing the effects of mass, surface, contact of air, currents of air, the cooling effects of different gases, and of air of different degrees of rarefaction.

Besides his work on heat, his Dissertation on the Progress of Physical and Mathematical Science, and the articles on “Cold” and “Meteorology,” in the seventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, he is the author of Elements of Natural Philosophy (left unfinished), a Treatise on Geometry, and Philosophy of Arithmetic.

He held the mathematical chair from 1805 to 1819, and in the latter year he was appointed to the chair of natural philosophy. He had a large and fine collection of apparatus, as indicated above, and devised many ingenious experiments. He was elected a corresponding member of the Institute of France in 1820; and, on the recommendation of Lord Brougham, he received the honour of knighthood in 1832.

Since Leslie’s time the science of heat has been greatly advanced; the dynamical theory of heat has been developed in the present century, and Scotsmen have contributed their share to the definite advancement of this branch of science. But it has been advanced to its present stage by a long list of scientific men. In 1812, Davy enounced that the direct cause of the phenomenon of heat is motion, and that the laws of its communication are precisely the same as the laws of the communication of motion. The researches into the radiation and absorption of heat mainly form the physical basis of Spectrum Analysis, which has greatly extended the power of ascertaining the constituent elements of the celestial bodies, the sun and the fixed stars.

In the researches which ultimately led to these results, several Scotsmen have taken an honourable part. Professor Forbes discovered and demonstrated the polarisation of heat, and thus showed that radiant heat and light are the same. Among others who have contributed to advance Spectrum Analysis, I may mention Professor Stokes, Professor Balfour Stewart, and Sir William Thomson, of the University of Glasgow. Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) has taught the doctrine that there is sodium vapour in the sun’s atmosphere, in his public lectures in the University of Glasgow, since the year 1852.

Interesting conclusions touching the composition of the sun and of some of the stars have been reached:――“When we compare the spectra of different stars with that of the sun, we come to some very curious conclusions. We find four classes of spectra, as a rule, among the different fixed stars which have seemed of importance enough to be separately examined. The first class of spectra are those of white stars. You see an admirable example in Vega, and another in Sirius or the dog-star. All these white stars have the characteristic that they have an almost continuous spectrum with few dark lines crossing it, and these for the most part lines of hydrogen. These stars are in all probability at a considerably higher temperature than the sun. Then you come to the class of yellow stars, of which our sun is an example. In their spectra you have many more dark lines than in those of the white stars, but you have nothing of the nature of nebulous bands crossing the spectrum, such as you find in the third class; still less have you certain curious joins of shaded lines which you have in the fourth class of stars. This classification seems to point out the period of life, or phase of life, of each particular star or sun. When it is first formed, by the impact of enormous quantities of matter coming together by gravitation, you have very nearly continuous spectrum of a glowing white-hot liquid or solid body, or it may be dense gas, the sole, or nearly sole, absorbent being gaseous hydrogen in comparatively small quantity, and the spectrum having therefore few absorption lines. As it gradually cools, more and more of these gases surrounding its glowing surface become absorbent, and so you have a greater number and variety of lines. Then, as it still further cools, you have those nebulous bands which seem to indicate the presence of compound substances; which could not exist in the first two classes, because their temperature is so high as to produce dissociation. Still further complexity of compounds will be found in the atmosphere of the fourth class.”¹

¹ Recent Advances in Physical Science, by P. G. Tait, pages 230‒231.

After the publication of Newton’s Optics in 1704, the history of this branch of science was almost a blank in Britain, till 1803, when the researches of Dr. Young on the undulatory theory of light appeared; and since the subject has been treated with increasing interest and success.

Sir David Brewster,¹ who attained distinction in this branch of science, and in other fields of intellectual effort, was a native of Jedburgh. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and had the advantage of the instruction of Professor Robison, and other eminent teachers who then spread the rays of light with consummate ability. He devoted himself to science; and in 1805, he edited Ferguson’s Lectures on Astronomy; and, as already mentioned, he commenced the Edinburgh Encyclopædia in 1810. His first separate work, On New Philosophical Instruments, appeared in 1813, which also contained observations on refractive and dispersive powers. From this date onwards he became a regular contributor to the London Philosophical Transactions, and also those of Edinburgh; he commenced the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal and the Edinburgh Journal of Science. His contributions to scientific societies and journals would fill many volumes. One list of his scientific papers extends to the number of three hundred and fifteen, and the following is only the briefest indication of some of the more important subjects treated in them:――

¹ Born in 1781; died in 1868.

(1) “The Laws of Polarisation by Reflection and Refraction, and other Quantitative Laws of Phenomena;” (2) “The Discovery of the Polarising Structure induced by Heat and Pressure;” (3) “The Discovery of Crystals with Two Axes of Double Refraction, and many of the Laws of their Phenomena, comprising the Connection of Optical Structure and Crystalline Forms;” (4) “The Laws of Metallic Reflection;” (5) “Experiments on the Absorption of Light.”

The more important of his other works are――(1) A Treatise on the Kaleidoscope, published in 1819; (2) A Treatise on Optics, 1831; (3) A Treatise on the Microscope; (4) A Treatise on the Stereoscope; (5) an Article on “Magnetism,” reprinted from the Encyclopædia Britannica; (6) The Martyrs of Science――Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler; (7) Life of Sir Isaac Newton; (8) Letters on Natural Magic; (9) More Worlds than One. He also wrote a Life of Euler and edited his Lectures; edited Robison’s System of Mechanical Philosophy, with a preface and notes, which appeared in 1822, in four large volumes; he also contributed seventy-four articles to the North British Review.

This enumeration of his writings, though far from complete, is sufficient to show his great mental energy, and his scientific and literary talents. He was a man of remarkable intellectual resource, his imaginative and elaborative faculties were of a high order, and, for industry and observation he has rarely been surpassed. His style is clear and flowing, he has a copious command of expressive language.

Besides his discoveries of the law of polarisation, of biaxal crystals, of optical mineralogy, and of double refraction by compression, he invented a dioptric apparatus for the illumination of lighthouses, which he described in 1812. In 1820, he endeavoured to get the dioptric system adopted, but failed; at length, however, on the motion of Mr. Hume, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the subject; and, in 1836, this system was applied to a Scotch lighthouse, and has since been universally extended. In 1816, he invented the kaleidoscope, which soon became popular over Europe; afterwards, he made an important improvement on the principle of constructing stereoscopes. In the words of Professor Forbes――“Few persons have made with their own eyes so vast a number of independent observations; few have ever observed better, or recorded their observations more faithfully.” He was an honour to his country and a benefactor to mankind.

In the interesting science of the earth――geology――Dr. Hutton, in 1788, enounced his theory that the changes in the earth’s crust have been mainly caused by the agency of fire; but though his views were ingenious and well argued, they have long ago been superseded by conclusions more in accordance with the observed phenomena. This branch of knowledge has been much investigated in the present century, and several Scotsmen have attained distinction in advancing it.

Sir Charles Lyell¹ was a native of Forfarshire, and studied at Oxford. His Principles of Geology, being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface by a reference to causes now in operation, appeared in 1830‒32, in two volumes. He made additions to it, and alterations from time to time, and the eighth edition of the work, thoroughly revised, was published in 1850. Though he recognised new facts, he continued to hold his theory that we may dispense with sudden and general catastrophes, and consider the past and present fluctuations of the organic and inorganic world as forming one continuous and regular series of phenomena.

¹ Born in 1797; died in 1875.

In 1838, he published his Elements of Geology, which was afterwards enlarged to two volumes. He is also the author of Travels in North America, with Geological Observations on the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia, published in 1845. He was twice elected president of the Geological Society, and he received the honour of knighthood in 1848. His style is attractive, easy, and fluent, and his writings were popular. The following is a short specimen of his manner:――

“The analogy, however, of the monuments consulted in geology, and those available in history, extends no further than to one class of historical monuments――those which may be said to be undesignedly commemorative of former events. The canoes, for example, and stone hatchets found in the peat bogs afford an insight into the rude arts and manners of the earliest inhabitants of our island; the buried coin fixes the date of the reign of some Roman emperor; the ancient encampment indicates the districts once occupied by invading armies, and the former method of constructing military defences; the Egyptian mummies throw light on the art of embalming, the rites of sepulture, or the average stature of the human race in ancient Egypt. This class of memorials yields to no other in authenticity, but it constitutes a small part only of the resources on which the historian relies; whereas in geology it forms the only kind of evidence which is at our command. For this reason we must not expect to obtain a full and connected account of any series of events beyond the reach of history. But the testimony of geological monuments, if frequently imperfect, possess at least the advantage of being free from all suspicion of misrepresentation. We may be deceived in the inferences which we draw, in the same manner as we often mistake the nature and import of the phenomena observed in the daily course of nature; but our liability to err is confined to the interpretation, and, if this be correct, our information is certain.”

Sir Roderick Murchison,¹ a distinguished geologist, was a native of Ross-shire, and served in the army from 1807 to 1816. He directed his attention chiefly to a series of strata in the district bordering on England and Wales, inhabited in early times by the British tribe of the Silures; and after working four years in classifying the rocks and deposits, he separated them into four formations, and showed that each is characterised by peculiar organic remains: and, in 1835, he divided them into a lower and upper group, both of which he anticipated would be found applicable to wide regions of the earth, and named them the Silurian System, the details of which he published under this title in 1839. In 1854, his later researches were published under the title of Siluria: the History of the Oldest Known Rocks containing Organic Remains.

¹ Born in 1792; died 1871.

He spent many years in Russia and in other countries in geologic explorations; and, in 1846, he published The Geology of Russia and the Ural Mountains, in which he was assisted by Count A. von Keyserling and E. de Verneuil. He is also the author of upwards of one hundred separate memoirs presented to scientific societies. In 1844, after examining some specimens of Australian rocks brought to this country, and comparing them with those of the auriferous Ural Mountains, he came to the conclusion that gold existed in Australia. Two years later, he urged the Cornish tin miners to emigrate to the colony of New South Wales, where they could obtain gold from the alluvial soil in the same way as they extracted tin from the gravel of their own country.

The following is a summary of the Siluria strata as they occur in the district mentioned above, upon which Sir Roderick mainly founded his system; they represent a thickness of about nine thousand feet:――

{ Finely laminated reddish sandstone and shales. { Micaceous grey sandstones of varying thickness. Upper { Argillaceous limestone. strata. { Calcareous shale, with concretions of limestone. { Concretionary limestone and argillaceous shale. { Shelly limestone and sandstone. { Gritty sandstones and shales.

{ Grits and sandy shales. Lower { Thick-bedded white freestone. strata. { Dark-coloured flagstones and slates. { Dark-coloured calcareous flags, bands of limestone, { and gritty flagstones.

Excepting a few indistinct fragments of land plants in the uppermost beds, the whole remains are characteristically marine, and evince conditions favourable to a variety of invertebrate life. Among the prevailing and distinctive fossils are fucoids or seaweed plants, corals, radiate animals, sea-worms, and shell-fish in great variety. And strata characterised by these fossils are largely developed in many countries, especially along the flanks of the older mountain-chains. “They occur in Wales, in Cumberland, in Westmoreland; along the south of Scotland; south-east of Ireland; the south of France, Spain, Scandinavia, Russia, and Bohemia; in Asia Minor; along the Himalaya and Altai ranges; in Australia and New Zealand; along the Andes, Rocky Mountains, and Appalachians in America.”

I have already mentioned Hugh Miller as a geologist, and no one was more ready than Sir Roderick Murchison to recognise his merits and to applaud his genius. Murchison received the honour of knighthood in 1846. The first editor of the Scotsman, Mr. Maclaren, was a student of geology, and published an Account of the Geology of Fife and the Lothians in 1839. It was, however, Hugh Miller that made geology popular in Scotland, and gave a great impulse to its study.

SECTION II.

Progress of Mechanical Science.

The relation between physical science and the mechanical arts are obvious in many ways. The exact boundaries between science and art are as undefinable as those which separate the kingdoms of nature from one another. If there are arts that cannot be called scientific, there are others which have contributed more to the store of knowledge than they ever drew from it, as the progress of science must be gathered from the records of experience, and in order to understand its importance, we must consult many of the varied pages of this record. In the progress of physical and mechanical science, as in that of social science and civilisation, the retarding obstacles everywhere mainly consist in the want or the imperfection of the requisite means――for observation, experiment, and verification in the former, for organisation and just and mutual union in the latter; in both spheres the chief retarding causes are the lack of appropriate and available means at the time and place when they were most needed. Many of the instruments and the apparatus required for observation and experiments in physical science are complicated and expensive, such as telescopes in astronomy, organs in acoustics, and so on, and skill and art are required to construct them; hence it has often happened that imperfect instruments and the want of the necessary apparatus have greatly retarded the progress of physical science. It is, therefore, plain that mechanical art is an indispensable element in the advancement of physical science, and that physical and mechanical science are important factors in the development of civilisation. For the necessities and the requirements of a progressive nation or empire are constantly increasing, and in order to hold its own, it must not only continue to improve and develop its moral and social organisations, but it must also exert itself to the utmost to advance its knowledge, science, and all the practical arts which minister to the life and to the enjoyment of mankind. This is the solemn decree of nature, and nothing else in the universe is available for the human race.

I will indicate briefly what Scotland has done to advance mechanical science and steam power. The order of exposition is determined by the intersective efforts of the chief actors in the early stage of this subject, and these were Mr. Watt, Dr. Black, Dr. Robison, and some other professors in the University of Glasgow. Of the discoveries and experiments of Dr. Black I have already spoken, and of his friendship and scientific relations with Mr. Watt; and it seems necessary now to introduce Dr. Robison,――a Scotsman, who contributed much to spread the knowledge of mechanical science in his native country and throughout the civilised world.

John Robison¹ was educated in the University of Glasgow from the twelfth year of his age to the nineteenth, and thus had the advantage of the instruction of those able professors who raised the fame of this ancient University――Adam Smith, Dr. Black, and Dr. Robert Simson.² From an early period of his life he manifested a strong bent for physical and mechanical science; and it was in his student days that he formed a friendship with Mr. Watt which continued throughout their lives. Their acquaintance began in 1757, and the occasion of it is told by Robison himself thus:――“I was then a student in the University of Glasgow, and studying the science which I now profess to teach. The University was then building an astronomical observatory. Mr. Watt was employed to repair and set up a very noble collection of instruments bequeathed to the University by Mr. Macfarlane of Jamaica, a gentleman well known to the scientific world. Mr. Watt had apartments and a workshop within the College. I had from my earliest youth a great relish for the natural sciences, and particularly for mathematical and mechanical philosophy. I was eager to be acquainted with the practice of astronomical observation, and my wishes were much encouraged by the celebrated Dr. Simson, professor of geometry; Dr. Dick, professor of natural philosophy; and Dr. Moore, professor of Greek――gentlemen eminent for their mathematical abilities. These gentlemen brought me with them into Mr. Watt’s shop; and when he saw me thus patronised, or introduced, his natural complaisance made him readily indulge my curiosity.

¹ Born in 1739; died in 1805.

² Dr. Simson held the chair of mathematics from 1711 to 1761, and at his death he bequeathed to the University his collection of mathematical books, supposed to be the most complete then in the kingdom.――Macgregor’s _History of Glasgow_, page 343.

“After first feasting my eyes with the view of fine instruments, and prying into everything, I conversed with Mr. Watt. I saw a workman, and expected no more; but was surprised to find a philosopher, as young as myself, and always ready to instruct me. I had the vanity to think myself a pretty good proficient in my favourite study, and was rather mortified at finding Mr. Watt so much my superior. But his own high relish for those things made him pleased with the chat of any person who had the same tastes with himself, or his innate complaisance made him indulge my curiosity, and even encourage my endeavours to form a more intimate acquaintance with him. I lounged much about him, and, I doubt not, was frequently teasing him. Thus our acquaintance began.”¹

¹ Narrative of Mr. Watt’s Inventions of the Improved Engine, by Professor Robison.

In 1759, Robison left Glasgow, and went to sea as tutor to a son of Admiral Knowles, with the rank of a midshipman. In this stage of his life he saw some service in Canada; and the information which he acquired by his extended means of observation was afterwards turned to good account. He returned to Glasgow in 1764, and then concentrated his attention on the study of chemistry under Dr. Black; and in 1766, on the removal of Dr. Black to Edinburgh, Robison was appointed professor of chemistry in the University of Glasgow. But in 1770, he again joined Admiral Knowles as his private secretary and accompanied him to Russia; and this led to his appointment as professor of mathematics in the naval school at Cronstadt in 1772. In nine months he learned to speak and write the Russian language with ease, and performed his duties in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. In 1774, he was elected to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, and was warmly invited to return to Scotland. He accepted the appointment, and spent the remainder of his life in incessant toil and scientific occupation.

His first course of lectures was delivered in Edinburgh, in 1774‒75, and embraced the sciences of mechanics, hydrodynamics, astronomy, optics, electricity, and magnetism, all of which he treated with remarkable clearness and precision. As a lecturer and expositor in his own department, he was among the most eminent of his time in Britain. He was succeeded in the chair by John Playfair, who had previously been for twenty years professor of mathematics in this University; and he is the author of the fine historical Dissertation on the progress of mathematical and physical science, published in one of the supplements of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and some other writings connected with science.

Professor Robison’s works consist of――(1) Elements of Mechanical Philosophy, of which only the first volume was completed and published in 1804, containing “Dynamics” and “Astronomy;” and (2) upwards of forty separate treatises and articles contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica, which treated on several of the more experimental branches of physical science, and on the following practical branches: (1) the art of music, with which he was himself practically conversant, (2) strength of materials, (3) carpentry, (4) roof, (5) the construction of arches and centres for bridges, (6) watch-work, (7) rivers, (8) waterworks, (9) pumps, (10) variations of the compass, (11) seamanship, (12) machinery, (13) steam, and (14) the steam-engine. As already mentioned, Sir David Brewster edited the above works, along with some selections from the author’s manuscript; and to the articles “Steam” and the “Steam-engine” Mr. Watt, at the request of Brewster, contributed notes and additions.

James Watt was born at Greenock in 1736, and received his education there,¹ in the commercial school and grammar school, in which he learned the elements of Latin and Greek, and attained a fair knowledge of mathematical science. To this was added the homely but important tuition which he received from his father, who carried on a business in articles used in navigation, ship fittings, and tackle. “He had a small forge set up for his own use; and was fond of repairing and making all sorts of instruments; he was also at a very early age informed about the use and principles of construction of the telescope, quadrants, and other optical instruments of which his father kept a stock for the supply of ships.” From the aptitude which he showed for this kind of handiwork and in accordance with his own choice, it was decided that he should qualify himself for the trade of a mathematical instrument maker.²

¹ His kinsman, James P. Muirhead, published his Life of Watt in 1858, and he had before, in 1854, published _The Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt_, in three volumes.

² Muirhead’s Life of Watt, pages 25‒30.

In 1755, Watt proceeded to London with the aim of attaining more skill in the art of instrument making. An agreement was made with Mr. John Morgan, a mathematical instrument maker in Finch Lane, Cornhill, that young Watt should receive one year’s instruction, for which he was to pay in return twenty guineas, and give his labour during that time in the business. As was expected, he made rapid progress. When his year’s working was completed, he announced “that he could now make a brass sector with a French joint, which is reckoned as nice a piece of framing work as is in the trade.”¹

¹ Ibid., pages 36, 37.

He returned to Scotland in the month of August, 1756, and shortly after proceeded to Glasgow with the object of finding employment; and in the month of October, the authorities of the University engaged him to clean and set up the Macfarlane collection of instruments in the College, as already mentioned. Thus it was that Watt was introduced and became so intimate with the professors and the leading men of this University; but he never attended any of Dr. Black’s courses of lectures, nor any other course of lectures in the University. He finished this piece of work before the month of December. He then tried to establish himself in the city of Glasgow; but he met with unforeseen obstacles. As he had not served a regular apprenticeship, and was not the son of a burgess, the rules of the craftsmen came into effect, and he was forbidden to set up a workshop.

But to the credit of the eminent men who then illumined the University of Glasgow, they nobly came to the rescue of the great mechanical genius. And in the summer of 1757, they gave him permission to occupy apartments and open a shop within the College buildings, and to use the title of “Mathematical Instrument Maker to the University.” He continued to occupy his rooms and workshop in the College till 1763, when he quitted them for a small house in the city; but the intimate and friendly relations which he had formed with the professors and others connected with the University were continued throughout his life. Turning attention to his inventions, touching steam itself, he says:――

“It was known very long before my time, that steam was condensed by coming into contact with cold bodies, and that it communicated heat to them.

“It was known by some experiments of Dr. Cullen, and others, that water and other liquids boiled in vacuo at very low heats; water below 100°.

“It was known to some philosophers, that the capacity or equilibrium of heat, as we then called it, was much smaller in mercury and in tin than in water.

“It was also known, that evaporation caused the cooling of the evaporating liquid, and bodies in contact with it.

“I had myself made experiments to determine the following facts:―― 1st, The capacities for heat of iron, copper, and some sorts of wood, comparatively with water. Similar experiments had also subsequently been made by Dr. Irvine, on these and other metals.

“2nd, The bulk of steam was compared with that of water.

“3rd, The quantity of water which could be evaporated in a certain boiler by a pound of coals.

“4th, The elasticities of steam at various temperatures greater than that of boiling water, and an approximation to the law which it followed at other temperatures.

“5th, How much water, in the form of steam, was required every stroke by a small Newcomen’s engine, with a wooden cylinder six inches diameter, and twelve inches long in the stroke.

“6th, I had measured the quantity of cold water required in every stroke to condense the steam in that cylinder, so as to give it a working power of about 7 pound on the inch.” He found that “water converted into steam can heat about six times its own weight of well water.... Being struck with this remarkable fact, and not understanding the reason of it, mentioned it to my friend Dr. Black, who then explained to me his doctrine of latent heat.”¹ This was in 1764.

¹ Letter and notes by Mr. Watt to Robison’s _Mechanical Philosophy_, Volume II., pages 7, 8, 113‒116.

Touching the steam-engine, Watt says:――“My attention was first directed in the year 1759 to the subject of steam-engines, by the late Dr. Robison himself, then a student in the University of Glasgow, and nearly of my own age. He at that time threw out an idea of applying the power of the steam-engine to the moving of wheel carriages, and other purposes, but the scheme was not matured, and soon after abandoned on his going abroad.”¹

¹ Ibid., Volume II., page 113.

Watt’s first improvement on the steam-engine was made in 1765; and it consisted of the idea of introducing a separate condenser for the steam――a contrivance to prevent the cooling of the cylinder, and make the vacuum more perfect by condensing the steam in a vessel distinct from the cylinder. This was patented in the beginning of the year 1769, and in his specification he undertakes to lessen the consumption of steam and fuel in steam engines. This patent was renewed for a period of twenty-five years by an Act of Parliament in 1775. He took out another patent, in 1781, “for certain new methods of applying a continuous circular motion round an axis, and thereby give motion to the wheels of mills or other machines.” The specification contains a description of five different modes of rotative motions. In 1782, he took out another patent, and the specification in this one contains six contrivances for equalising steam-power on the expansive principle; and among these, the double-acting engine, in which the steam is alternately applied to press on each side of the piston, while a vacuum is formed on the other side.

One of the most important of his improvements of the steam-engine was inserted in his patent of ♦1784. This is the “parallel motion,” which he described thus:――“Methods of causing the piston-rods, pump-rods, and other parts of the engine, to move in perpendicular or other straight lines, and to enable the engine to act upon the working beams both in pushing and in pulling; and three varieties are described.” This specification also described improved modes of applying the steam-engine to drive mills which have many wheels requiring to move round in concert; a simple method of applying the power of the steam-engine to the working of heavy hammers or stampers; a portable steam-engine and machinery for moving wheeled carriages.¹

♦ “1874” replaced with “1784”

¹ Watt’s Notes to Robison’s Mechanical Philosophy, Volume II., pages 118‒121, 149‒151; also Muirhead’s Life of Watt, pages 180, 247, 278‒284, 285, 293‒296.

It was only after great perseverance, patience, hard toil, and thought, and many disappointments and untold anxieties that Mr. Watt at last attained success. It was fortunate for him, and for mankind, that from his first appearance in Glasgow he won not a few warm and able friends――men who knew and appreciated his great genius and the worth of his character, encouraged him, and stood by his side in one of the greatest trials of his life, to give their testimony to his rare genius and unimpeachable integrity.¹

¹ With regard to two of the gentlemen alluded to above, I will quote Mr. Watt’s own words:――“Although Dr. Black’s theory of latent heat did not suggest my improvements on the steam-engine, yet the knowledge upon various subjects which he was pleased to communicate to me, and the correct modes of reasoning and of making experiments of which he set me the example, certainly conduced very much to facilitate the progress of my inventions; and I still remember with respect and gratitude the notice he was pleased to take of me when I very little merited it, and which continued throughout his life.

“To Dr. Robison I am also bound to acknowledge my obligations for very much information and occasional assistance in my pursuits, and above all for his friendship, which ended only with his life; a friendship which induced him, when I was beset with a host of foes, to come to London in the depth of winter, and appear as a witness for me in a court of justice, whilst labouring under an excessively painful disorder, which ultimately deprived him of life. To the remembrance of that friendship is principally owing my taking upon myself the office of his commentator at my advanced age.”――Letter of Mr. Watt, in Robison’s Mechanical Philosophy, Volume II., page 9.

Watt entered into partnership with Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham, and, after 1775, for many years he resided in that city; and continued his exertions, with little intermission, to the further improvement of the steam engines. The business proved successful, and Watt retired at the end of the last century, leaving two of his sons in the establishment, which continued to prosper. The ingenious improver of the steam-engine, after many efforts and struggles, was enabled to spend the evening of his days in comparative wealth and leisure.

Mr. Watt invented many things beside his improvements of the steam-engine, amongst which may be mentioned a micrometer for measuring distances, which he used in his surveys of the Crinan and Gilp, and the Tarbert intended canals, and in other surveys of canals which he was employed to make; also, a copying-machine, which was patented in 1780, described as a “new method of copying letters and other writings expeditiously.” At an early period of his career he built some organs. He planned and superintended the construction of the Monkland canal.

He wrote comparatively little, but he was an exceedingly well-informed man. He was fond of chemistry as well as mechanics, and was well versed in the theory and practice of both. He discovered the composition of water, and his friends have maintained his priority to Cavendish in this discovery. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in ♦1784; of the Royal Society of London in 1785, and a correspondent member of the Institute of France in 1808. In 1806, the University of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D.; and in 1814, the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of France elected him one of its eight foreign Associates. After the toils and heat of the day, his evening closed in calm serenity; full of honour and of years, beloved by his friends, and surrounded by his family, he passed away on the 25th of August, 1819, at Heathfield, near Birmingham, in the eighty-third year of his age. Statesmen, philosophers, men of science, and men of the world united in extolling the worth of his character and the greatness of his genius. From the notices of his death, I shall quote a part of the one which Lord Jeffrey wrote:――

♦ “1748” replaced with “1784”

“We have said that Mr. Watt was the great improver of the steam-engine; but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its structure, or vast in its utility, he should rather be described as its inventor. It was by his inventions that its action was so regulated as to make it capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate manufactures, and its power so increased as to set weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable contrivance, it has become a thing stupendous alike for its force and its flexibility――for the prodigious power which it can exert, and the ease, and precision, and ductility, with which it can be varied, distributed, and applied.... It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of obdurate metal before it――draw out without breaking a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can embroider muslin and forge anchors, cut steel into ribbons, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves.

“It would be difficult to estimate the value of the benefits which these inventions have conferred upon this country. There is no branch of industry that has not been indebted to them; and, in all the most material, they have not only widened most magnificently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a thousand-fold the amount of its productions.... It has increased indefinitely the mass of human comforts and enjoyments, and rendered cheap and accessible, all over the world, the materials of wealth and prosperity. It has armed the feeble arm of man, in short, with a power to which no limits can be assigned; completed the dominion of mind over the most refractory qualities of matter; and laid a sure foundation for those future miracles of mechanic power which are to aid and reward the labours of after generations. It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is mainly owing, and certainly no man ever bestowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not only universal, but unbounded; and the fabled inventors of the plough and the loom, who were deified by the erring gratitude of their rude contemporaries, conferred less important benefits on mankind than the inventor of our present steam-engine.

“This will be the fame of Watt with future generations; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, who lived in his society and enjoyed his conversation, it is not, perhaps, the character in which he will be most frequently recalled, most deeply lamented, or even most highly admired. Independently of his great attainments in mechanics, Mr. Watt was an extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much and such varied and exact information――had read so much, or remembered what he had read so accurately and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehension, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying and methodising power of understanding, which extracted something precious out of all that was present to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge was immense――and yet less astonishing than the command he had at all times over them. It seemed as if every subject that was casually started in conversation with him, had been that which he had been last occupied in studying and exhausting; such was the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable clearness of the information which he poured out upon it without effort or hesitation. Nor was this promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary pursuits. That he should have been minutely and extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in most of the branches of physical science, might perhaps have been conjectured; but it could not have been inferred from his usual occupations, and probably is not generally known that he was curiously learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in all the details of architecture, music, and law. He was well acquainted, too, with most of the modern languages, and familiar with their most recent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary to hear the great mechanician and engineer detailing and expounding, for hours together the metaphysical theories of the German logicians, or criticising the measures or the matter of the German poetry.

“It is needless to say, that, with those vast resources, his conversation was at all times rich and instructive in no ordinary degree: but it was, if possible, still more pleasing than wise, and had all the charms of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of knowledge. No man could be more social in his spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or more kind and indulgent towards all who approached him.... He had a certain quiet and grave humour, which ran through most of his conversation, and in a vein of temperate jocularity, which gave infinite jest and effect to the condensed and inexhaustible information which formed its main staple and characteristic.

“In his temper and disposition he was not only kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate of the feelings of all around him; and gave the most liberal assistance and encouragement to all young persons who showed any indications of talent, or applied to him for patronage or advice.... All men of learning and science were his cordial friends; and such was the influence of his mild character and perfect fairness and liberality, even upon the pretenders to these accomplishments, that he lived to disarm even envy itself, and died, we verily believe, without a single enemy.”

The application of steam power to navigation in the end of the last century, and to railway trains in the present, has produced the most striking results; and although Watt was not directly connected himself with the early attempts of steam navigation, still its introduction was greatly dependent on his improvements of the steam-engine. The development of steam-power in manufactories and other forms will be afterwards noticed; but before quitting the subject, I will describe the earliest attempts to propel ships by steam. Many projects were spoken of which were never realised. But Mr. Miller of Dalswinton, assisted by Mr. James Taylor, tutor in his family, formed a plan for vessels with paddle wheels to be driven by a steam-engine; and with the assistance of Mr. Symington of Wanlockhead, a practical engineer, a small engine and a boat were constructed and fitted up: and in October, 1788, this boat was launched on the Loch of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, and she attained a speed of five miles an hour. They then built a larger boat, the engine of which Mr. Symington constructed at Carron ironworks; and, in 1789, this vessel was launched on the Forth and Clyde Canal and propelled by steam, and she attained a speed of about seven miles an hour. These are among the earliest attempts of steam navigation of which we have authentic record. For some time after, this new enterprise lingered; but in the very beginning of the present century Mr. Symington’s experiment was repeated on the Thames with complete success. While in America on the river Hudson, Mr. Robert Fulton, the son of a Scotsman who emigrated from Dumfriesshire, started a steamboat with an engine of Boulton and Watt, in 1807. It is a curious fact that, in the year 1814, Scotland had five steam vessels, while England had not a single one. In the following year, however, England had three, and in 1820, she had seventeen; while Scotland had fourteen. Subsequently, owing to causes easily understood, steam ships increased in number far more rapidly in England than in Scotland, though not faster in proportion to the population and wealth of the latter country.

The most striking and important of the improvements in steam vessels which have been made in the present century is the substitution of the screw-propeller for the paddle-wheels; while in the construction of ships themselves wood has been superseded by iron and steel.

With regard to the importance, the variety, the subtilty, and the power of its practical applications, and the latent or as yet undeveloped power inherent in it, the science of electricity takes a high rank; and with a brief and consequently a very imperfect notice of it in these various relations, this chapter will conclude.

The science of electricity is of modern growth; very little was known of its nature or powers prior to the last century, though some of its phenomena attracted the attention of a few scientific men in the seventeenth century. Between the years 1720 and 1736, Stephen Grey, assisted by Wheeler, discovered that the human body conducts electricity, that it acts at a distance――motion in light bodies being produced by frictional electricity at a distance of 666 feet; he also stated the fact of electric induction and other phenomena. About 1733, Dufay originated his dual theory of two electric fluids; and stated that two bodies similarly electrified repel each other, and attract bodies oppositely electrified. What was termed the Leyden Jar was discovered by several persons in 1745; and the following year Winckler constructed the Leyden Battery. About the same time, important researches were made by Watson, Canton, and others. In 1747, Franklin enounced his theory of a single fluid; he termed the vitreous electricity positive, and the resinous negative; and, in 1752, he demonstrated the identity of the electric spark and lightning, drawing electricity from a cloud by the use of a kite. Still this subtle and powerful element was then but little understood; and, in 1752, Professor Richmann was killed at St. Petersburg while repeating Franklin’s experiments. Since this period the subject has been treated continuously by many able and famous men of science.

The term electricity, as now applied, includes various phenomena of very different characters; such as magnetism, frictional electricity, and voltaic electricity. Two general properties may be noted――(1) polarity and (2) current action. In the first there is a uniformity through all its modes, and it is the pervading attribute which gives a distinctive character to all the phenomena: the second peculiarity of the electric forces is that they can be carried to any distance through solid conductors, so as to discharge themselves at any point. Frictional electricity is generated by mechanical force in electrical machines.

The practical applications of the electric forces are now numerous, and all of comparatively recent introduction. Although the idea of applying electricity to communicate signals was conceived by Watson about the middle of the last century, the earliest proposal of this appeared in the Scots Magazine for February, 1753, when a correspondent from Renfrew, who signed himself C. M., proposed several kinds of telegraphs, acting by the attractive force of electricity, conveyed by a series of parallel wires equal in numbers to the letters of the alphabet, and insulated by supports of glass or jeweller’s cement at every twenty yards. Words were to be spelt by the electricity attracting letters, or by striking bells corresponding to letters. Towards the latter part of the last century and the early part of this various plans of telegraphs were proposed by different men; but 1837 is the date of the practical realisation of the electric telegraph. A few years later it began to be employed in connection with the working of railways; and it is obvious that the railway system could not have been developed without the aid of the electric telegraph, or some similar method of rapid and instantaneous signalling. The modes of electric telegraph have been much perfected, and the systems of communication immensely developed, within recent years.

Among those who have advanced the knowledge of electricity and the development of its practical application during the past half century, the veteran Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, Lord Kelvin, holds a distinguished place. He has made many experiments, practical applications, and written much on the subject.

Submarine electric telegraphs were successfully introduced in 1851, when the first line between Dover and Calais was opened; and it has since been greatly developed, and direct telegraphic communication established between Europe and America many years ago. Electric clocks were introduced in 1854, and are now common.

An apparatus for regulating the electric light was first devised and exhibited by Staite and Petrie in 1848. Jules Duboscq’s electric lamp was shown at the Paris exhibition in 1855; and, in 1856, it was employed by Professor Tyndall for illustrating his lectures on light and colour, which he delivered that year at the Royal Institution in London. Since, the electric light has been greatly developed, and used for lighting public buildings, places of business, and the streets of cities; and if the cost of its production was reduced it would be more universally used for lighting purposes.

In 1854, M. Bonelli, of Turin, invented a plan of employing magnets and electro-magnets in weaving, by which he proposed to supersede the tedious and costly Jacquard system of cards. His loom was set up in London in 1859; and, in the summer of 1860, Professor Faraday lectured upon it at the Royal Institution. There are other applications of electricity which it is unnecessary to enumerate.

An exceedingly useful and beautiful application has recently been made in the science of acoustics, by the invention of the telephone, which transmits the sounds of spoken language along wires to a considerable distance.

In concluding this chapter, the importance of mathematical science was indicated, and the Scotch mathematicians noticed; Dr. Black’s researches and discovery of latent heat, and Leslie’s treatment of radiant heat and experiments were explained; I then indicated the results of more recent researches and referred to spectrum analysis. The writings, experiments, observations, and the discoveries of Sir David Brewster were noticed; and the contributions of several Scotsmen to geology were noted. The department of mechanical or applied science was then treated, and the writings of Dr. Robison and his teaching in this relation were noticed, and the bearing of the discovery of latent heat on the application of steam-power. A short account of Watt’s career was given; his experiments on steam, improvements on the steam-engine, his struggles, and ultimate success, his genius, accomplishments, and character, were noticed. The early attempts of steam navigation were explained; and finally some account was presented of the discovery and the varied applications of electricity.

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