1862 - 1889

1862
Death of Norman MacLeod (Caraid nan Gaidheal) whose writings have been of enormous influence in helping keep the Gaelic language alive.

William Cunningham largely responsible for the acceptance of economic history as a scholastic discipline publishes his standard reference work "The Growth of English Industry and Commerce".

1863
The publication of "Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man" by Charles Lyell joins his earlier works "Principles of Geology", 1830-33 and "Elements of Geology", 1838 to establish the author, rather than fellow Scot James Hutton, as the "father of modern geology."

1864
Andrew Carnegie purchases the Storey Farm in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania. This starts him on a career that will make him one of the world's richest businessmen and generous philanthropists.

The establishment of the Red Cross comes about as the result of the work of John Pringle, "the father of modern military medicine," who argues that military hospitals should be treated as sanctuaries, mutually protected by belligerents on both sides. Pringle's earlier "Observations on the Diseases of the Army" (1752) has revolutionized military medicine through suggesting improvements in hygiene and sanitation.

1865
Joseph Lister pioneers the practice of using carbolic acid in treating compound fractures at Glasgow, thus inaugurating the era of antiseptic surgery.

1867
John Alexander MacDonald became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada following the British North America Act of the same year that he helped create. Under his leadership as a staunch defender of Canadian unity, the country will add the provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.

Peter Guthrie publishes his "Elementary Treatise on Quaternions", which lays out the system of advance algebra called quaternions that will give rise to vector analysis, a branch of math that deals with quantities having both magnitude and direction.

Physician Thomas Lauder Brunton discovers the use of amyl nitrate in treating angina.

1872
James Dewar produces the forerunner of what was to become the Thermos bottle, keeping liquids hot. He also will develop cordite, a smokeless, slow-burning explosive powder.

Porcelain rollers are installed in a new flour mill in Glasgow, bringing white bread and poor nutrition to Scotland.

1873
Following his discovery that light is an electromagnetic wave, James Clerk Maxwell's "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism" describes properties of the electromagnetic field.

Charles Wyville Thomson publishes "The Depths of the Sea". It lists measurements of various sea temperatures, indicating the presence of oceanic circulation. Thomson is the first marine biologist to describe life in the ocean depths.

1876
Following a big breakthrough in 1875, when he was able to transmit his own voice to his assistant Watson, Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for his newly -invented telephone.

Thomas Lipton opens his first Glasgow shop, advertising his wares on two fat pigs driven through the streets.

1877
A consolidation of Scottish whisky distilleries forms the Distillers Company, Ltd., creating a monopoly.

1879
The Bridge over the Firth of Tay collapses under the weight of a train during a winter storm.

1880
William Rankine publishes "Miscellaneous Scientific Papers" which describes much of his pioneering and highly influential work in thermodynamics.

1881
Francis Maitland Balfour's "A Treatise on Comparative Embryology" lays the foundations for modern embryology.

Jaime Ferran discovers a serum that is effective against cholera.

1882
An article by Stewart Balfour in "Encyclopedia Britannica" firmly establishes ionispheric science as a legitimate field of study.

1883
Hamish MacCunn wins a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. He will later compose many overtures with Scottish themes, write cantatas and ballads, songs and operas.

Publication of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island", a forerunner of "Kidnapped" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

1885
The Third Reform Act grants manhood suffrage based on distribution of population and gives equal representation to Scotland with England. The same year sees the creation of a Cabinet post of a secretary for Scotland, with his ministry becoming the Scottish Office, responsible for many departments, including Education.

The setting up of English-only schools in each Scottish parish further hastens the decline of the Gaelic language.

1886
The Scottish Home Rule Association is founded to campaign for a Scottish Parliament and to ensure an equal voice for Scotland in the Halls of Westminster when Imperial affairs are being discussed.

The Scottish Miners' Federation is founded, with Keir Hardie as its secretary.

1887
John Boyd Dunlop, from Ayrshire, invents the pneumatic tire, surely one of the world's greatest and most blessed inventions (constructed for the wheels of his son's tricycle and put into commercial production in 1890).

"A Study in Scarlet," the first of Conan Doyle's stories about the eccentric, but brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes, is published.

1888
Birth of John Logie Baird, whose experiments in 1924 will credit him with being the first man to televise pictures of objects in motion. Baird also will become the first person to televise images across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Scottish Labour Party is founded by Keir Hardie, who would enter Parliament as the Member for Merthyr Tydfil (South Wales) in 1892, and who will be instrumental in the founding of the British Labour Party itself in 1906 (formed out of the Labour Representative Committee).

Veterinary surgeon John Boyd Dunlop is awarded a patent for his pneumatic bicycle tire, which he had devised to cushion the tires on his sickly son's tricycle.

The appearance of William Orchardson's painting, "Her Mother's Voice" which later becomes the inspiration for one of the most widely-known and successful advertising icons in the world, the little dog listening to "His Master's Voice".

1889
A Home Rule Bill for Scotland is defeated in the House of Commons.

William Murchland manufactures Britain's first milking machines at Kilmarnock.