Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/566

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tics, stereoscope, voltaic electricity, etc. In 1819 he assisted in establishing the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," afterward the "Edinburgh Journal of Science," which took the place of the "Edinburgh Magazine," and subsequently became its sole editor. He also had a part in founding the "North British Review," and was a regular contributor to it, having been the author of seventy-five articles that appeared in it. In 1838 he was appointed Principal of the United Colleges of St. Salvator and St. Leonard, St. Andrews, and in 1859 became Principal of the University of Edinburgh. His life at St. Andrews was checkered by transient difficulties that grew out of his excessively nervous temperament. At Edinburgh, a minute recorded by the University Court after his death described him as "one whose warm interest in the university never abated to the last, and who, on the many occasions on which he presided over their deliberations, or was associated with them in business, evinced the sagacity of a clear and disciplined intellect and the courtesy of a kind and Christian gentleman, while each member of it feels that by his death he has lost a valued and respected friend."

In 1825 Brewster was made a corresponding member of the French Institute. From this time, says Mrs, Gordon, "honors crowded in so rapidly upon him that, except any of special interest, it would be tedious to enumerate them in their order and succession. Suffice it to say that the large book in which the letters, diplomas, burgess-tickets, announcements of medals, etc., are collected is a remarkable one for size and value. The large towns of Switzerland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Sweden and Norway, South Africa, Antigua, the various States of America, besides the towns and universities of England, Scotland, and Ireland, all contributed their quota of honors to this man of research and industry. A cape received his name in the Arctic regions, a river in the Antarctic, and a new plant discovered by Dr. Muellin in Australia was named Cassia Brewsteri. He received, besides the Copley, Rumford, and Royal medals, two Keith medals from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, two from the French Institute, one from Denmark, one from the Société Française de Photographic, and various others; of some of the most valuable of these, duplicates were sent to him, one of gold, which he turned into plate, and a fac-simile of frosted silver—all being preserved as heirlooms. He was knighted in 1831, the year of the first meeting of the British Association, and also received the Hanoverian Order of the Guelph."

In examining Mrs. Gordon's most interesting work we have been struck with the variety of subjects in which Sir David Brewster was interested, and of the discussions in which he took part. We can only mention some of them, as we find them laid down in the table of contents. Connected with his researches on light were all matters relating to photography and color-blindness, which was strikingly exemplified