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of a few of the fellow-students of Dr Hamilton, who afterwards became conspicuous for their attainments, such as, in the Literary Classes, William Adam, Lord Chief Commissioner, Dugald Stewart, Sir John Sinclair, Professor Dalzel, Sir James Hall, Honourable Henry Erskine; and in the Medical Classes, Dr Benjamin Rush, Sir Gilbert Blane, Mr Benjamin Bell, Dr Daniel Rutherford, Dr Andrew Duncan, Dr Alexander Monro Drummond, Dr James Gregory, Mr James Russell, and many others, among whom may be included some of the original members of this Society.
It is easy to conceive, that the emulation excited by the ardour and success with which so many young men of talent and diligence prosecuted their studies, must have had a happy effect on such a mind as that of James Hamilton, who, though his voice was not much heard in the controversial discussions which occupied a great share of the attention of the Academical Societies of that period, yielded to none in the quiet and persevering assiduity, by which the foundation of future professional eminence is more securely laid. That these advantages were not lost
