Campbell, JOHN FRANCIS

Campbell, JOHN FRANCIS, of Islay, a great folklorist, was born December 29, 1822. Educated at Eton and the university of Edinburgh, he held offices at court, and was afterwards secretary to the lighthouse and coal commissions. He travelled much, and died at Cannes, 17th February 1885. An enthusiastic Highlander and profound Gaelic scholar, as well as a man of singularly lovable nature, Iain Og Ile ('Young John of Islay') preserved all the affectionate loyalty of the islanders of Islay, although he had lost the estates of his fathers. An obelisk was raised to his memory in the June of 1887 on the summit of Cnoc-na-Dàb, a hill in Islay, near his birthplace. Campbell's great work is his Popular Tales of the West Highlands (4 vols. Edin. 1860-62), one of the most important contributions ever made by any scholar to the scientific study of folk-tales, or storiology, to use his own word. Only those who have themselves made experiment in collecting folk-tales can appreciate the marvellous combination of devoted patience and quick intelligence, with profound sympathy and insight into primitive habits of thought, that went to the making of such a book. Had he lived longer he might have given folklorists further volumes out of the ample store of materials he left behind him. His Leabhair na Feinne, a series of Gaelic texts, he began to issue in 1872. Campbell gave much attention also to scientific studies, fruits of which were his Frost and Fire, Natural Engines, Toolmarks and Chips (1865), Thermography (1883), and the invention of the sunshine-recorder for indicating the varying intensity of the sun's rays. His Circular Notes (1876) consisted of letters written home during a tour round the world.