1837-38. A YEAR OF PREPARATORY WORK. 41 CHAPTER III. A YEAR OF PREPARATORY WORK. "The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning, it far surpasseth all other in nature."-BACON'S "Advancement of Learning." Ar the point which our narrative has now reached, George Wilson was nearly twenty years of age. As we have seen, he had completed the course of study necessary for entrance upon the profession he had chosen, although not old enough to obtain the degree of M.D. He had also come fairly under many of the influences which were most powerful in the development of his intellectual and moral life; and we already see in him more than the germs of much that made him the universal favourite he was in later years. A healthier, happier spirit than he was in those days assuredly could not be. As being thoroughly appropriate to himself at that time, we once more quote words which he long afterwards wrote of another. "The dew of his youth was still upon him. The corrupting breath of the world had not tainted his freshness, or its cold touch chilled him. His eager eyes looked forth on a rich and boundless future. Young men of genius and tastes like his own had become his attached friends. Seniors of the highest repute welcomed him as a pupil. Libraries and museums of the greatest value were open to him daily. His shortest walks were through the streets of a city which delighted his artist-eye, and had a strange fascination for him." 1 Immediately on his return from the trip spoken of at the close of the preceding chapter, George entered upon the duties of assistant in Dr. Christison's laboratory. This was a position entirely after his own mind, for it necessitated pursuits dearer to him than any other; and doubtless it greatly tended to the fostering of those tastes by which he was mainly distinguished in his after life. It was all the more pleasant for him that he loved and respected the distinguished professor under whom he laboured; a love and respect which nowise diminished as the years advanced. The following letter is characteristic. It was addressed to the lady who afterwards became the wife of his much-loved brother Daniel. "October 6th, 1837. "MY DEAR MISS MACKAY,-Having finished the perusal of some tomes treating of certain recondite philosophical and literary subjects, I gladly sit down to dispel all your anxious fears regarding my safe arrival from your most hospitable city. Some foolish people would at once have called for pen and paper, and before their boots were fairly pulled off, have indited a scanty unreadable scroll, purporting to tell that the steamboat had not blown up, nor its engine gone wrong, nor itself come in collision with another, nor the writer fallen overboard, &c. Then reverting to travels by land, the scrawl would go on to say, that the horses did not run off, nor the coach tumble over a cliff, nor the traces break, nor the wheels suffer any mishap, and so on. But I am far too much of a philosopher to write any such nonsense, nor am I about to bore you to 1 "Life of Edward Forbes," chap. iv. 1837-38. LABORATORY WORK. 43 death with a melancholy recital of my being almost frozen to an icicle, and nevertheless nearly tumbling off the coach with sleep. I have fortunately forgotten these trivial and temporary inconveniences, and the reminiscence of them would be of no possible use to either of us, so I meddle not with it any more. After the sobering influence had duly improved me, I set off on Monday morning to the College, and the first person I beheld was my most respected instructor, Dr. Christison. After shaking hands with the worthy professor, and making inquiries after his health, I whipped off my surtout, and on with my old coat, I say my old coat, but it stands in the same relation to my back, that Elijah's mantle did to Elisha, being the legacy of a departed (to the Continent) friend, and I fell to a very curious case of attempted poisoning, by putting vitriol in tea, in the analysis of which I occupied the whole of the first day. Since then I have been engaged up to the period when I write, with two delicate processes for the purification of sulphuric acid, one for the more accurate preparation of tinctures of Barks, not to mention the analysis of laudanum, and assistance in opening a box from Ceylon, containing roots, fruits, leaves, &c. from that most interesting place, sent by a lady for Dr. Christison's Museum. "Situated as I am just now, buried in the difficulties of several of the physical sciences, changing from pharmacy to chemistry, from chemistry to physiology, or taking a refreshment in the subtilties of logic, or the elegancies of rhetoric, you must not expect my epistle to be very rich in what may either amuse or instruct, the more so, that I have lost my brother, who sharpened every faculty as 'iron sharpeneth iron.' I have no one now to laugh and joke with; or, if a feeling of lonesomeness comes over me, and I cast my eyes round for a familiar countenance, they fall on a grim, grinning battered skull, surmounted by two crossbones, the adornments of my mantel-piece. Nevertheless, I am not to be outdone in grinning by a skull, and when any odd idea comes from the caverns of my restless head, I grin and show my teeth, and a great many more too, in a far more joyous fashion than the said lifeless cranium can do. "Whatever the reason, medical men are never more at fault than in reasoning on their own disorders. I seem to have bid good-bye to a considerable portion of my senses, not to talk of bottles, messages, appointments, and articles of dress, forgotten, misapplied, or neglected; of a letter put into the post-office marked paid, thrust into the common receiving aperture, and safely lodged at the bottom, before I remembered that I had written in great characters the 'paid' so cheering to the receiver, but in this case, destined only to raise the compassion, or awake the indignation of the young lady, its recipient, at the melancholy poverty of the writer. "Now I think I know the reason of all this mental absence, and as you are a discreet young lady, I shall not scruple in confidence to tell you. I am over head and ears in love, and the object of my attachment so thoroughly engrosses my thoughts, that I have scarce a speculation to give to anything else, and though I have wooed her steadfastly, she, with the coyness and fickleness of her sex, gives me but doubtful signs of a reciprocity of affection, and I feel that I make but small progress in her esteem; and eager as I am to ingratiate myself with her, and high as I should esteem the honour of having a most thorough acquaintance with her, I know that many of my friends would imagine her a very unfit companion, and I can conceive you saying that although a lady might occasionally converse with her, a familiar intimacy would be most undesirable, and I 1837-38. CHEMISTRY, HIS LADY LOVE. 45 believe you to have more than common charity in such a case as this. Nevertheless, she is descended from a noble and influential family of very ancient origin, which can show incontestible proofs of having flourished in the dark ages, under another title, and which received great additions to its powers and influence, under the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. under the Chancellorship of Lord Bacon. If you wish to see the birth, descent, and fortunes of the family, I would refer you, not to Burke's Peerage, but to the Encyclopædia, where, under the article 'Sciences,' you will find a minute history of the family; and if you ask me which of the daughters has awakened in me such admiration, I reply, the 'Right noble the Science of Chemistry,' who in my eyes is by far the most attractive and interesting of the family. In case a kindly feeling to the writer should incline you to know more of this noble house, and its collateral branches, I would refer you to a work written by a lady, deeply versed in this branch of Heraldry, Mrs. Somerville's 'Connexion of the Physical Sciences." The winter was a very busy and happy one. Attendance at the laboratory kept him steadily engaged for some hours every day; and the rest of the time was fully occupied by necessary study. There is a long series of letters addressed at this time to his brother in London, and we shall be mainly indebted to extracts from these for information as to his employments and aspirations. They furnish abundant evidence of great enthusiasm in the study of chemistry. It is interesting to observe how his love for this branch of science steadily increased, the farther his researches were pursued. Before quoting from the letters, the following extract may be given from the journal : "Saturday, October 20th.-I was agreeably surprised on |