379
rative contained in the 27th chapter of Acts, and the
method of investigation and the results may be
stated in his own words: "I do not even assume the
authenticity of the narrative of the voyage and ship-
wreck contained in the Acts of the Apostles, but
scrutinise St. Luke's account of the voyage as I
would those of Baffin and Middleton, or of any
antient voyage of doubtful authority or involving
points on which controversies have been raised. A
searching comparison of the narrative with the
localities where the events so circumstantially re-
lated are said to have taken place, with the aids
which recent advances in our knowledge of the
geography and the navigation of the eastern part of
the Mediterranean supply, accounts for every trans-
action, clears up every difficulty, and exhibits an
agreement so perfect in all its parts as to admit but
of one explanation, namely, that it is a narrative of
real events, written by one personally engaged in
them, and that the tradition respecting the locality
is true" (Introduction).
The reader of this sketch will easily see how many
qualifications united to fit Mr. Smith for this import-
ant subject. The work was at once received by the
unanimous verdict of all critics and theologians,
both English and foreign, as finally settling all dis-
puted questions as to the narrative of the voyage and
the locality of the shipwreck. The minute study of
the writings of St. Luke required for this work led
Mr. Smith to a view of the much contested question
of the connection of the first three Gospels, which
was first published in the Dissertation on the Life and
Writings of St. Luke above referred to, afterwards
with much more detail in a separate Dissertation on
the Origin and Connection of the Gospels (Blackwood,
1853). The conclusions to which Mr. Smith was
led are—1st, That the Gospel of St. Mark (Marcus
interpres Petri) is almost entirely a translation made
by St. Mark of a contemporary memoir made by
St. Peter in Hebrew (Aramaic). 2d. That St.
Matthew composed and published his Gospel in both
languages, Greek and Aramaic, making use as an
authority of St. Peter's memoir. 3d. That St.
Luke composed his Gospel, making use, among
ether authorities, of St. Peter's memoir and of St.
Matthew's Greek as well as Aramaic Gospel.
These conclusions arrived at by Mr. Smith in 1848
were supported by him with wonderful ingenuity
and sagacity, and received remarkable confirmation
from the subsequent publication of Dr. Cureton of
his translation of the lately discovered Syriac ver-
sion of the Gospel of St. Matthew, which Mr.
Smith, as well as Dr. Cureton, considered as being
the representative not of the Greek but of the
original Aramaic edition of St. Matthew's Gospel.
The publication of the lately discovered Codex
Sinaiticus likewise confirmed in many important par-
ticulars the conclusions at which Mr. Smith had
arrived in both his works.
Mr. Smith was in politics a Conservative, but in-
clining to the liberal side. He contested the burgh
of Greenock at the general election in 1837, but un-
successfully, and made no other attempt to enter
parliament.
In all that concerned the Church of Scotland he
took a deep interest. He was for many years a
member of the General Assembly as elder for the
parish of Renfrew, and at his death was the senior
lay member of that body. He deeply deplored the
Disruption in the Church of Scotland, and was one
of those who were most anxious to remove every
ground for it.
Mr. Smith enjoyed vigorous health till the spring
of 1866, when a slight stroke of paralysis enfeebled
his body without affecting his mind. A great part
of the last summer of his life was spent in his yacht
in the quiet waters of the Frith of Clyde, and the
lochs and kyles which branch from it. A second
attack, in November, 1866, was followed by his
death at Jordanhill on the 17th of January, 1867.
Mr. Smith was succeeded by his only son, Archi-
bald Smith, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., barrister-at-law,
late fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Married
in 1853 to Susan Emma, youngest daughter of the
late Vice-chancellor Sir James Parker.
SMITH, JAMES. This distinguished agriculturist,
who was so successful in propagating the system of
deep ploughing and thorough draining, was born at
Glasgow on the 3d of January, 1789. His father,
who had been in business in that city, died when
James was only two months old, so that the infant
was left to the charge of his mother, who was a
daughter of Mr. Buchanan of Carston in Stirling-
shire. After her husband's death Mrs. Smith resided
with her brother, the manager of an extensive cotton
manufactory at Deanston, near Stirling, and James,
after being educated at home, was sent to the uni-
versity of Glasgow. Whether he distinguished him-
self as a student we are unable to learn, but his
future excellence lay in those departments with
which the universities of his day had little connection.
After his course of education at college was finished
he returned to his uncle, who had removed to the
Catrine works in Ayrshire; and being desirous of
attaining a complete knowledge of the trade, he
became a workman through all its different grades,
labouring for the purpose twelve hours a day. Such
commendable perseverance was worthily rewarded,
as he was intrusted at the early age of eighteen
with the entire management of the works at Dean-
ston, and into these he introduced such improvements
for promoting the health of the operatives employed
in it, that they were mentioned with commendation
by Mr. Chadwick in 1841, when he drew up "Re-
port on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring
Population in Great Britain."
It was not, however, to improved processes in
manufacturing that the energies of James Smith
were to be confined. Agriculture had from an
early period occupied his attention; while his train-
ing in the factory and acquaintanceship with its
machinery, had taught him the best means of com-
pelling the soil to yield its produce. During the
war, when labour was very scarce, the Dalkeith
Farmers' Club offered a prize of £500 for an effective
reaping-machine. This was a fit competition for
Mr. Smith, who produced one; and although it did
not obtain the prize, the committee were so greatly
pleased with it that they requested him to attempt
another. This he did in 1813, and though still the
prize was not awarded to him, chiefly owing, it is
said, to accident, its merits were not the less appre-
ciated. This was shown by a prize which he re-
ceived from the Dalkeith Farmers' Club of a splen-
did piece of plate valued at fifty guineas ; from the
Highland Society of Scotland another piece of plate;
from the Gargunnock Farmers' Club in his own
neighbourhood a pair of silver cups; and from the
Imperial Agricultural Society of St. Petersburg a
massive gold medal, transmitted through the Russian
ambassador at the British court. To add to the
merit of these achievements, both manufacturing and
agricultural, they were effected before he had passed
his twenty-fourth year.
Until 1823 Mr. Smith had the management of his
uncle's farm, in which he introduced several success-
ful experiments, although his attempts were generally