Abstract
WE like this book. It is notoriously difficult for a near relation to write a truthful biography, but Mrs. Gordon has done her work with great ability, taste and judgment. To most readers, the family details at the beginning will be of little interest, but as the life advances the interest grows. The book is essentially what its title imports, it pictures Sir David as a man rather than as a philosopher; yet his daughter tells us much of when and how his literary and scientific work was accomplished, and gives us lively anecdotes both of himself and of many of his contemporaries. In one chapter she analyzes his mental characteristics, and while acknowledging his imperfections, she shows that much which appeared inconsistent in his actions arose from an uusually dual nature, the continuation of a peculiarly impulsive temperament, with a scientific habit of thought. In another, she traces his religious history, and we see his advance from a somewhat cold and rigid orthodoxy to a living and happy faith, when without materially changing his own opinions he was ready to sympathise with good men who differed from him. Those who are well acquainted with the multitudinous optical researches of Brewster, will enjoy a glimpse of him at work among apparatus, often extemporised from corks and bits of metal, and glass, meanwhile indulging in a low purring whistle of satisfaction, and those who remember him only as a Nestor in science with furrowed features and snowy hair, describing his discoveries, or declaring his convictions in clear vehement language, will like to know him also as the head of a family, and the principal of a university, a politician, and a writer of reviews, gaining high distinctions, and promoting valuable institutions. But we can only just indicate these things, and must refer to his daughter's book for details about the dawn full of promise, the briliant noonday, and the beautiful sunset of his life.
The Home Life of Sir David Brewster.
By his Daughter, Mrs. Gordon.
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GLADSTONE, J. The Home Life of Sir David Brewster . Nature 1, 650 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/001650a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001650a0