and exertion among the students of Natural Philosophy
and Chemistry attending the College; which appears to me the
more useful, as the very existence of Britain, as a nation,
seems to me, in great measure, to depend upon her exertions in
science and in the arts.

The University conferred the degree of LL.D. upon him in 1774, and its
great engineering laboratory bears his name.

In 1816, he made a donation to the town of Greenock for scientific
books, stating it to be his intention

to form the beginning of a scientific library for the
instruction of the youth of Greenock, in the hope of prompting
others to add to it, and of rendering his townsmen as eminent
for their knowledge as they are for the spirit of enterprise.

This has grown to be a library containing 15,000 volumes, and is a
valuable adjunct of the Watt Institution, founded by his son in memory
of his father, which is to-day the educational centre of Greenock. Its
entrance is adorned by a remarkably fine statue of Watt, funds for
which were raised by public subscription.

Many societies honored the great inventor. He was a fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, the Royal Society of London, Member of the
Batavian Society, correspondent of the French Academy of Sciences, and
was one of the eight Foreign Associates of the French Academy of
Sciences.

Watt's almost morbid dislike for publicity leaves many well-known acts
of kindness and charity hidden from all save the recipients. Muirhead
assures us that such gifts as we can well believe were not wanting.
Watt's character as a kindly neighbor always stood high. He was one of
those "who will not receive a reward for that for which God accounts
Himself a debtor--persons that dare trust God with their charity, and
without a witness."

In the autumn of 1819 an illness of no great apparent severity caused
some little anxiety to Watt's family, and was soon recognised by himself
as the messenger sent to apprise him of his end. This summons he met
with the calm and tranquil mind, that, looking backward, could have
found little of serious nature to repent, and looking forward, found
nothing to fear. "He often expressed his gratitude to the Giver of All
Good who had so signally prospered the work of his hands and blessed him
with length of days and riches and honour." On August 19, 1819, aged 83,
in his own home at Heathfield, he tranquilly breathed his last, deeply
mourned by a