In 1872 Sir Robert Christison completed his fiftieth year of active service as professor in the university, the only case of the kind that had ever occurred; and a large and enthusiastic assembly entertained him at dinner. Further honours still awaited him; he was in 1875 elected President of the British Medical Association at its Edinburgh meeting; and in 1876 he was selected for the Presidency of the British Association, a distinction which however he declined on the ground of his advanced age. He soon afterwards retired from active duty; but lived in considerable vigour till about Christmas 1881. He died on January 23, 1882, in his eighty-fifth year. “As regards his personal characteristics,” says the _Scotsman_, “Sir Robert was perhaps liable to be somewhat misunderstood by those who did not know him. Dogmatic and positive in his opinions, he was inclined to lay down the law in a way that might not always be quite agreeable.... On the other hand, friends who had the good fortune to know him intimately found in his nature a fund of geniality such as the casual observer could never have dreamt of. Warmth of heart and simple unaffected kindness would seem to have been distinguishing qualities of his private and social demeanour.” He was a strong Churchman and Tory. He married in 1827 a Miss Brown, who died in 1849, leaving three sons. * * * * * Some years younger than Christison, ALFRED SWAINE TAYLOR was contemporary through life with him, and occupied for many years a quite exceptional position in the English mind in connection with the detection of cases of poisoning. He was born at Northfleet in 1806, and educated at Hounslow. At the early age of sixteen he became the pupil of a surgeon near Maidstone, and in October 1823 entered as a student at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Hospitals, then forming a united medical school. Later on he was exclusively connected with Guy’s as pupil and lecturer until his retirement in 1878. From the year 1826 Taylor gave much attention to medical jurisprudence, although his diligence was such as to win for him a prize for anatomy at Guy’s. Chemistry proved a congenial subject to him under the instruction of Allen and Aikin, and he was further stimulated in the same direction by frequent visits to Paris and all the principal Continental medical schools. At Paris he heard among others Orfila and Gay-Lussac. Geology, mineralogy, and physiology likewise engaged his attention, and so was formed a mind singularly broad in its views of natural phenomena, and well calculated to expound their laws. Taylor passed his examinations at the Apothecaries’ Hall in 1828 and at the College of Surgeons in 1830, and entered upon practice, continuing, however, to study in the chemical laboratory of Guy’s Hospital.