Dr. Wilson did not live to finish the memoir which he so ably began.  The great naturalist, Edward Forbes, deserved the best from his contemporaries, and we are glad to have the combined labors of such distinguished men as Wilson and Geikie put forth in commemoration of him.  The chair of Natural History at Edinburgh was honored by him whose biography is now before us.  His advent to that eminent post was everywhere hailed with a unanimity that augured well for his career, and no one could have been chosen to succeed the illustrious Jameson for whom there could have been more enthusiasm.  His admitted genius and the range of his acquirements fully entitled him to the office, and all who know him looked forward to brilliant accomplishments in his varied paths of science.  Death closed the brief years of this earnest student at the early age of thirty-nine.  Cut off in the prime of his days, with his powers and purposes but partially unfolded, he yet shows grandly among the best men of his time.

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