Series 4 > Scottish industrial history

182
SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
Gaunter, the manager of the project. Undoubtedly he kept his
place in a fitting and proper manner; but when the opportunity
occurred he was not slow to let Gaunter, or any other, know what
he was thinking. He was probably self-educated. He was lent
books, probably not all technical (for he had clearly read some of
the works of Thomas Carlyle), both by Dr Paul and by Sir James
Matheson; and his practical knowledge came by experience - he
‘had bit by bit understood the requirements of the Work and the
Nature of the Dangerous Gases’. Clearly he was a capable and
intelligent man, but his character would scarcely have endeared
him to his immediate superior.
The manuscript, written in a small quarto exercise-book contain¬
ing 61 leaves, was acquired by the National Library of Scotland in
1967 from a descendant of Morison, and its present reference num¬
ber is ms. 9586. Most of the text is written on one side of the page
only, and Morison used the blank sides to add notes and further
comments; these notes have been inserted in the following text
in square brackets in their appropriate places. Morison’s original
spelling and, to a large extent, punctuation has been retained.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to reproduce any of the line
drawings and plans also in the manuscript. The text is presented as a
straightforward narrative without annotation.
t. 1. R.