Volume 2 > Half-Volume 4

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"The value of professional worth should chiefly be
estimated by the number and excellence of disciples.
A large share of the best naturalists of the day re-
ceived their first instruction in the science that was
afterwards to prove their fountain of honour, from
Professor Jameson. Not even his own famous
master, the eloquent and illustrious Werner, could
equal him in this genesis of investigators. Under
his auspices, too, were lasting friendships and unions
of kindred minds formed, that have been productive
in good to the cause of knowledge. Valuable as
were his writings�each, when estimated with regard
to the position of science at the time of its issue, an
effective advance�his pupils were even more valu-
able. The greatest praise of a great professor is
that which proclaims that he has founded a school.
And where else in the British empire, except here,
has there been for the last half century a school of
natural history?"
While Professor Jameson was thus unwearied in
publishing and lecturing, another subject of his care
was, that there should be a proper collection of
specimens, by which the several departments of
natural history might be illustrated. But on his
appointment to the professorship scarcely the em-
bryo of a museum existed in the university of Edin-
burgh. The splendid bequest of Sir Andrew Balfour
to the college, in 1694, of the extensive collection
which he had been forty years in accumulating, and
which was supposed at the time to be the finest in
Europe, had been so little appreciated and so care-
lessly kept, that it had mouldered away into a few
specimens, which were regarded as unsightly rubbish.
Accordingly, when Jameson became professor of
natural history, in 1804, the beggarly inventory
of this sometime famous collection had dwindled
into a few glasses of birds and serpents, a small
collection of minerals, and a few dresses and weapons
of savage nations. It was such a museum as is
sometimes to be found in a cellar, and shown to
spectators for the sum of one penny. Even the
birds, too, were in such a decayed condition, that
Jameson was soon forced to throw them out. Such
was the germ out of which he evolved the rich and
widely-famed Edinburgh museum, of which he may
be justly considered the founder and builder. His
first step was to place his own collection of natural
history in the museum, and afterwards to collect or
procure, as far as his influence went, such additions
as were best suited for the purpose, much of the
expenditure for which was defrayed from his own
pocket. As the cost, however, of such a process soon
outgrew his means, he laid the case before govern-
ment, and obtained an order that �100 should be
paid annually to the professor of natural history for
the use of the museum. The early increase of the
collection through the zeal of the professor necessi-
tated increased accommodation, and on applying to
the town-council, a very spacious and handsome
museum was fitted up for the reception of the articles
of natural history�and when this accommodation also
in course of time became too limited, he applied for
and obtained that part of the building of the univer-
sity, then in the course of erection, which was after-
wards distinguished by the title of the New Museum.
This grant was not more than necessary, for in 1819
the famous Dufresne collection had become the pro-
perty of the university of Edinburgh by purchase,
and at the instigation of Professor Jameson, although
the Emperor of Austria and also the Emperor of
Russia had offered much larger sums for it. About
the same time a good many valuable articles of
natural history were purchased by the university
at the sale of Mr. Bullock's cabinet�and these,
with the Dufresne collection, and all the previous
collections, were safely housed and arranged, in
1820, in their new college buildings. Yet still his
own private outlay had been going on, and was
continued till the hour of his death. But far more
ample resources were needed for such a great national
undertaking, and these were obtained, although still
most inadequate for the occasion, by admitting the
public in 1820 to the museum, at the cost of half-
a-crown for each visitor, which was afterwards re-
duced to a shilling. He also made another appeal
to government, and the annual grant of �100 per
annum for the benefit of the museum was raised to
�200. And yet these would have been only drops
in the bucket or sprinkled upon the sand, but for
his indomitable energy, as well as his personal sacri-
fices. What the museum had been in 1804, when
he first took possession of it, we have already seen:
what it had become under little more than twenty
years of his fostering care, he thus stated in his
evidence before the royal commission in giving a
history of the museum from the year 1804 to 1826:
�"Since that time [the removal into the new build-
ing], the museum has increased more than at any
former period, so that the collection is nearly double
what it was in 1820. About a year ago I again
stated to the commissioners for college buildings,
that further accommodation for objects of natural
history was wanted, the cases in the New Museum
being completely filled. The commissioners, with
their usual liberality and activity, after considering
my proposal, ordered a suite of rooms, five in num-
ber, to be immediately fitted up. This series of
rooms, at the time this report is writing, is nearly
filled with beautiful and interesting objects of natural
history. The museum is rapidly increasing, and
will, ere many years pass, equal in extent and
splendour some of the most distinguished museums
in other parts of the world."
In concluding this part of his evidence before the
royal commission, the professor had stated the ne-
cessity of still larger accommodation, and declared
that another series of rooms must be provided before
these hopes for the museum could be realized. For
this he memorialized the crown, the city, and the
senatus, and was enabled in conclusion to declare,
"The commissioners for college buildings, to whom
I have again applied, are now considering the pro-
priety of erecting another museum of natural history,
on the ground to the westward of the present
museum." But notwithstanding his appeals the
subject was allowed to slip aside, and Professor
Jameson was left to "find ample room and verge
enough" where he best could, or make shift without
them. Thus affairs continued until 1852, when
the collection had so greatly increased that it could
not be exhibited without more liberal accommodation;
and this he explained in a statement which was laid
before the town-council. Convinced of the fact,
the council presented a memorial to government for
museum extension, and for converting the present
museum into a national museum for Scotland�
himself also forwarding a strong memorial to the
same effect. And we know how successful these
appeals were at last. The national museum was
built, and its collection constitutes not only one of
the proudest ornaments of our country, but one of
the noblest collections of which science can boast.
But Jameson, who had done so much for it, and
without whom it would probably have never existed,
was not permitted to see the rising of the walls, or
even the laying of the foundation-stone. After he
had reached the age of eighty years, filled his official
chair for half a century, and obtained a world-wide
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