Abstract
THE death of Prof. Macquorn Rankine, which we announced a fortnight ago, will excite a pang in the hearts of many persons who had enjoyed actual intercourse with the genial spirit whose early loss we now mourn, and of a still greater number who were only acquainted with him through his published works. He died at his residence in Glasgow, on Christmas Eve, in his fifty-third year, the date of his birth being July 5, 1820. For several months he had been labouring under a serious derangement of his eyesight, coupled with heart disease; but it was confidently hoped for a time that his valuable life might be preserved for the benefit of science, provided that he rested himself from all his ordinary labours. Latterly he did take that rest which seemed to be so imperatively demanded by his physical nature, the chief portion of his ordinary work, namely, that of conducting his class in the University of Glasgow, being handed over to Mr. Bamber, C.E., who formerly distinguished himself as a student under the deceased professor; but the bodily system had evidently little power of resisting the ravages of the insidious disease under which it laboured; paralysis set in on Sunday, the 22nd ult., and in forty-eight hours Macquorn Rankine was dead.
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MAYER, J. The Late Professor W. J. Macquorn Rankine . Nature 7, 204–205 (1873). https://doi.org/10.1038/007204a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/007204a0