of original character, scientific tendencies, and inventive genius. Chief among these was James Veitch, a self-taught man astronomer and mathematician. From this man David Brewster received his first lessons in science. Veitch gave the boy many suggestive hints while he was engaged, when but ten years of age, in the manufacture of a telescope, which, in writing to a friend in 1800, he says had 'a greater resemblance to coffins or waterspouts than anything else.' In 1793, at the early age of twelve, David went to the university of Edinburgh, where he heard the lectures of Playfair, Robinson, Dugald Stewart, and others. The young scholar prepared for a position in the established church of Scotland, of which his father was a strenuous supporter. In 1802 Brewster, who had been for some time a regular contributor to the 'Edinburgh Magazine,' became its editor. In 1799 he engaged in tuition, becoming a tutor in the family of Captain Horsbrugh of Pirn in Peeblesshire, which situation he held until 1804. He wrote some love poetry to ' Anna,' a daughter of Captain Horsbrugh, who died at an early age, which was published in the 'Edinburgh Magazine,' and also printed in a separate form.
Having been licensed by the presbytery of Edinburgh, Brewster preached his first sermon in March 1804 in the West Kirk, before a large congregation, amongst whom were numbers of his fellow-students and many literary and scientific men. The Rev. Dr. Paul says of this effort : 'He ascended the pulpit, and went through the whole service, for a beginner, evidently under excitement, most admirably.' After this he preached frequently in Edinburgh, Leith, and elsewhere, and his ministrations were very successful, but they became a source of pain and discomfort to himself. He never preached without severe nervousness, which sometimes produced faintness. This weakness and the constant fear of failure led Brewster eventually to decline a good presentation and to abandon the clerical profession. In 1800 he was made an honorary M. A. of Edinburgh.
In 1804 he entered the family of General Diroon of Mount Annan in Dumfriesshire as tutor. There he remained till 1807, continuing his scientific studies and literary pursuits with but little interruption, as we find from his regular correspondence with Mr. Veitch. In 1805, on the resignation of Professor Playfair, Brewster was spoken of as a candidate for the chair of mathematics in the university of Edinburgh, and he received promises of support from Herschel and other well-known men of science. Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Leslie had the better claim to the chair, and was elected ; but, owing to some unguarded expression in his work on the 'Nature and Propagation of Heat,' a cry of 'heresy' was raised. 'A Calm Observer' published a pamphlet professing to adopt 'a mode of discussion remote from personal invective.' This pamphlet, which created an intense excitement, was by David Brewster. In 1807 he became a candidate for the chair of mathematics in St. Andrews, but without success. He was, however, made LL.D. of that university, and shortly after an M.A. of Cambridge ; he was also elected a non-resident member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. At this time he was induced to undertake the editorship of the 'Edinburgh Encyclopaedia,' which occupied him for twenty-two years. In 1809 he visited London, and he left a diary minutely recording his experiences. Under 31 July 1810 we find 'Married, set off to the Trosachs,' the lady being Juliet, the youngest daughter of James Macpherson, M.P., of Belleville, better known as 'Ossian Macpherson.'
In 1813 Brewster sent his first paper to the Royal Society of London on 'Some Properties of Light.' In the same year he published a 'Treatise on New Philosophical Instruments.' Failing health indicated the necessity of repose from mental labour, and a continental tour was ordered by his medical advisers. In July 1814 he started for Paris, where he made the acquaintance of Biot, La Place, Poisson, Berthollet, Arago, and many other of the French celebrities of science.
Brewster also visited Switzerland, established friendships at Geneva with Prévost and Pictet, and made many important observations on the rocks and glaciers of the Alps. In 1814 he returned to work, with unabated ardour for experimental inquiry. This showed itself in a series of papers contributed to the Royal Society, most of them on the 'Polarisation of Light,' which were continued through several years. In addition he published many other memoirs in the 'Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.'
In 1815 Brewster became a fellow of the Royal Society, and the Copley medal was bestowed upon him. This was followed three years later by the Rumford medal, and subsequently by one of the Royal medals, in each case for discoveries in relation to the polarisation of light. In 1810 the French Institute awarded him half of the prize of three thousand francs given for the two most important discoveries in physical science made in Europe.
In this year Brewster invented the ka-
