ably carried with him the support of the graduates of the University of Aberdeen as represented by their General Council, and, in spite of many obstacles, occasionally succeeded in influencing the amendment of the Draft Ordinances by the Commissioners. It was characteristic of him that, having been refused the place on the Commission to which he had a more obvious claim than any man who sat there, he, nevertheless, resolved to do his utmost in the service of the Universities from the humbler platform of a simple graduate. His health fortunately continued good, and he exerted himself to the uttermost, attending meetings of the Committee and the Council with almost perfect regularity. His last appearance in the Council was, very fittingly, for the purpose of moving that his Committee be not re-appointed, as the work of the Commission was by this time practically completed (15th April, 1896).

It happened that, coincidently with the discussions consequent upon the meetings of the Commission, the University of Aberdeen was plunged into a difficult controversy by a scheme for the extension of the University buildings (December, 1891). The difficulty lay in the circumstance that there are two colleges about a mile apart, and the two strongest parties supported one or other of these alternatives the enlargement of Marischal College or the transference of the Science Classes to King's College, where the cost of sites was a much less serious item of expense. It is needless to enter into the ramifications of the controversy, in which Dr. Bain took a very active part, both personally and as Convener of the Extension Committee of the General Council. His view was that the University Court committed a grave error in adopting one of these alternative plans without waiting until the Commission had formulated its scheme for the new curricula in Arts, Science, and Medicine, when it would be possible to offer a judgment based on the whole facts of

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the case. At a later stage, when the Commission issued a Draft Ordinance fixing the location of certain Arts Classes at King's College, Dr. Bain met the proposal with a strenuous but unsuccessful opposition, holding that "the arrangement is a matter of pure convenience, and as such should be left to the discretion of the Senatus ".

In the early part of this period, two articles by Dr. Bain appeared in Mind; one "On Physiological Expression in Psychology," in the January number of 1891, and the other, "Pleasure and Pain," in the April number of 1892. Both were reprinted in the volume of Dissertations. He also made a fresh excursion into the field of biography by reminiscences of the Reverend Dr. Kidd, whose preaching had influenced him in his boyhood. These reminiscences were first published in the Aberdeen Evening Gazette, of 25th April and 2nd May, 1892, and afterwards reprinted in Dr. Stark's Life of Dr. Kidd.

From the date at which the Autobiography closes, Mrs. Bain's health had been very precarious, and in 1891 Dr. Bain had made his London journey by himself. In February of 1892, he and his wife were obliged to leave Crieff Hydropathic hurriedly on account of Mrs. Bain's failing state. She grew rapidly worse after her return home, and died on the 17th March, 1892. In the same year, Dr. Bain made various public appearances in Aberdeen, which may be

recounted in chronological order. The first of them, which preceded by some weeks the visit to Crieff, was at a meeting of the Aberdeen branch of the Educational Institute of Scotland, when he was presented with the Diploma of an Honorary Fellow of the Institute. In his long address on education, or, more particularly, on education in primary schools, he began by giving personal reminiscences of educational history, and then proceeded to speak of his long experience in teaching, and his having philosophized upon that experience in various forms, more especially in his Education as a Science, where it might seem he "had pretty well gone over the ground of the theory of education ".

"There was, however," he said, "a grand omission, the mention of which may give some novelty to my present address. The omission in question is based upon one point of deficiency in my long experience as a teacher. In my very humblest beginnings in that capacity, my work assumed what may be called the collegiate form; that is to say, it consisted in giving lessons upon some particular topic, and in these being done with my pupils. I never was in the position occupied by many of you, namely, to have to carry on a school in all its departments so as to have not merely the charge of individual subjects, but the adjustment of the whole to suit the requirements of the pupils. I could not even trust my imagination to realize fully this position. It seemed to me that nothing less than actual experience in the work for a length of time could qualify any one to say with