Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/96

 :: Containing, I. The History, II. The Doctrine, of His Death,' &c, Edinburgh, 1786, 8vo.
 * 1) 'The Benefits of the Revolution,' &c, Kilmarnock, 1789, 8vo (sermon). Also three single sermons, 1793-6.

 MACGILLIVRAY, CHARLES R. (1804?–1867), physician and Gaelic scholar, the son of a small farmer, was born in Kilfinichen, Mull, about 1804. He received his elementary education at the school of his native parish, and when about twenty went to Glasgow, where he found employment in a druggist's shop. In 1849 he commenced business as a druggist, and in 1853 graduated M.D. In 1869 he was appointed lecturer in Gaelic at the Glasgow Institution. He died in Glasgow in 1867.

MacGillivray was an enthusiastic Gaelic scholar, and assisted Dr. Norman Macleod [q. v.] with his publications. In 1868 he pubished a Gaelic grammar, but his best-known work is a translation of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' (1869), in which he was helped by Archibald Macfadyen the hymn-writer. He also translated parts of Howie's 'Scotch Biography' into Gaelic, published in London in 1870-3.

 MACGILLIVRAY, WILLIAM (1796–1862), naturalist, was born at Old Aberdeen, 26 Jan. 1796. As a child he spent eight years (1799-1807), in the island of Harris, Outer Hebrides. He then returned to Aberdeen and studied under Ewan M'Lachlan, and in 1808 entered as an arts student at King's College, Aberdeen, where he graduated M.A. in 1815. "While at the university he made some study of medicine, chiefly under Dr. Barclay, but, after some five years' trial, he abandoned it for natural science. In 1817 he began the study of zoology with a fellow-student, W. Craigie, and for a time acted as dissector to the lecturer on comparative anatomy at King's College. His vacations as a student had been spent in the Western Isles, and he subsequently rambled over most parts of Scotland. With his journal and a copy of Smith's 'Flora Britannica' he walked from Aberdeen to London, for the purpose of seeing the country and visiting the British Museum. He afterwards attended the lectures of Robert Jameson [q. v.] in Edinburgh, Subsequently geologising, gathering gulls' eggs and shooting birds in the Outer Hebrides. On 29 Sept. 1820 he married Marion Askiil in the Island of Harris. In 1823 he accepted the appointment of 'assistant and secretary to the regius professor [R. Jameson] of natural history, and regius keeper of the museum of the Edinburgh University.' He retired after a few years in order to continue his observations in the field, but in 1831 was appointed 'Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.' He resigned the post in March 1841, when he succeeded Dr. Davidson as 'Professor of Natural History in the Marischal College, and University of Aberdeen.' In 1844 his old college bestowed upon him the honorary degree of LL.D.

As professor, MacGillivray was busily occupied in delivering lectures, and in forming a collection for the use of the students. He also embarked in numerous literary undertakings, and the strain proved too much. Early in 1850 he spent a month in exploring the central region of the Grampians, the district around Lochnagan, and from the results of the exposure he never recovered. He went to Torquay to recruit later in the year, and shortly after his arrival at Torquay his wife suddenly died. His own death took place at Aberdeen on 4 Sept. 1852.

MacGillivray was not only a keen observer of scientific phenomena, but a most careful and exact recorder of what he saw. He achieved striking success in several branches of natural science, in any one of which, had his vocation permitted, he might have become a brilliant specialist. He had the highest qualifications as a curator of museums. Shortly before he died, MacGillivray had completed what was the great work of his life, 'A History of British Birds.' This had been begun before 1837, when the first volume was issued, and extended to five volumes in 8vo, the last two being completed in the intervals of illness. The style is singularly clear, while the care devoted to anatomical details and to the graphic descriptions of the haunts and habits of the birds gives it permanent scientific value. MacGillivray, for the first time in the history of the science, based his classification of birds on their anatomical structure. The work was considered by Audubon and others to be the best of its kind in English.

MacGillivray's first published note was on the occurrence of a walrus on the shore of Lewis, in Deer, 1817 (Edinb. Phil. Journ. vol. ii. 1820); his last completed work was the manuscript for a 'Natural History of Dee Side.' This manuscript was purchased by