PROFESSOR BLACK.

Otago Witness, Issue 1031, 2 September 1871, Page 8

PROFESSOR BLACK.

( ' Edlnhurtjli Evening Courant.)

A number of the members of the Naturalists' Field Club and other friends of Dr Black, invited him to dinner in the Albert Hotel, on Friday. Mr Robert Scot Skirving occupied the chair ; and Mr A. S. B. Scott, director of the collegiate classes in Picardy Place, was the croupier. After an excellent dinner, served up in his best style by Mr Robertson, and the removal of the cloth, the Chairman gave first the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, and then proposed the health of Professor Black, the guest of the party. The Chairman dwelt on the remarkable career of Dr Black — the first student who had taken the new degree of D,Sc. — and spoke especially of the loss his appointment to so honourable a post as the professorship of natural science at Otugo wo\ild be to the Naturalists' Field Club. He alluded to the fact that the member for the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews had given to the House of Commons a sketch of Dr Black's career as a specimen of how talented young Scotchmen could force their way into scientific eminence by means of our university system. The toast was responded to with unbounded enthusiasm. Dr. Black, in reply, said — " I am unable to do justice to my feelings on this occasion. It is the first time in my life that I have been placed in such a position, and I find it more difficult to occupy than I had anticipated. The short time that has elapsed since I emerged from student life, and the small amount of public work that I have been able to perform, do not entitle me to so great an honour at your hands a3 you confer on me this evening. So warm an expression of friendly feeling towards me when I am on the point of leaving my native country, probably never to return, makes a deep and ineradicable impression on my mind, and gives me the assurance that when I am settled in that remotest of our colonies, I shall not be quite forgotten by the Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club, nor by ray own professional brethren the teachers of Edinburgh. The experience that I have gained in the Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club will probably enable me, in conjuncton with others, to inaugurate a similar club in the Edinburgh of the southern hemisphere ; and if its success will at all approach that of its prototype in the 'home country,' its members will spend many pleasant hours together rambling among the woods and hills and glens of that far distant country, and will derive many advantages from their mutual labours. Mr friend, Mr Scot Skirving, has spoken in too high terms of my limited attainments, and the honours I have acquired. I have no wish to underestimate the importance and value of these ; nor shall I deny that they represent a great amount of patient labour and honest work in the study, the class-room, and the field, but I do not take any credit to myself for overcoming great difficulties in attaining them. There were no difficulties to overcome, nor have I done anything at all exceptional. I was only one of a large class of students who began our curriculum without ' any visible means of support, ' our whole capital consisting of willingness to teach, as well as eagerness to learn. We received engagements in the public and private schools, which filled up the intervals between our classes at the University. We were also engaged during two or three hours of the winter evenings in private tuition in the wealthier families in town. From the revenue thus derived, hundreds of students who otherwise would never think of attending college every year enjoy the advantages of a university education, and qualify themselves for positions of honour and emolument in the various professions throughout the coxurtry. It is not easy to reckon the boon we owe to the teachers of Edinburgh, who are always most liberal in affording facilities to their assistants for attending the University, and to the wealthier parents of the pupils, who, in many cases, pay handsomely for one or two hours' instruction to members of their families during the winter session, and take the tutors with them to their country residences. The young student thus enjoys the advantage of agreeable and improving society, and saves money, which often goes far to defray his expenses for another year at the University. " Dr Black sat down amidst deafening applause. The other toasts of the evening were — "The University of Edin-

burgh," proposed by Mr Panton, and responded to by Mr Sadler ; " The Schools of Edinburgh," by Mr Herbert, of Trinity, responded to by the Croupier ; " The Press," proposed by Dr R. Brown, and replied to by David Herbert, M.A., of the Courant ; " The Ladies and Mrs Black and Family," by Mr A. S. B. Soott, replied to by Professor Black and Mr Wilson ; " The Chairman," by Mr Falconer King ; and "The Croupier," byMrßuckhaniHossack. Several gentlemen sang during the proceedings, and a moat pleasant and profitable evening was spent by the select company which met to do honour to a distinguished Scotchman, of whom, it is to be hoped, the scientific world will hear another day.