OF THE LATE MR. WILLIAM 8TUBGEON. 77 



almost* constantly descending from the air through the leaves 

 and roots of plants, it is impossible not to allow that great 

 influence on vegetation is exercised by it, and it must be 

 reasonable to infer that such influence may be increased or 

 modified by collecting and distributing it by artificial means. 



Having completed a rapid survey of Mr. Sturgeon's prin- 

 cipal scientific researches and discoveries, it will be proper 

 now to notice his career in the several capacities of editor, 

 lecturer, and professor. Soon after leaving the army he was 

 appointed Lecturer on Experimental Philosophy to the Hon. 

 East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe, and 

 he continued to hold that position, with credit to himself, until, 

 in the year 1838, he accepted the office of Superintendent of 

 the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science, an institu- 

 tion which was founded in this city by a few public spirited 

 gentlemen, in the hope that by means of popular scientific 

 discourses, illustrated by experiments with apparatus of a size 

 and completeness unattainable by a private lecturer, interest 

 would be excited and scientific education largely promoted. 

 This expectation was, however, unhappily disappointed. The 

 indifference to pursuits of an elevated character, which too 

 frequently marks wealthy trading communities, destroyed this, 

 as it has many other useful institutions. Undismayed by 

 this failure, Mr. Sturgeon made strenuous efforts to establish 

 another institution of a similar character, but which failed 

 from the same cause which ruined its predecessor. After 

 this he had no further connexion with any other educational 

 establishment, and relied for support on the precarious emo- 

 luments arising from the courses of lectures he delivered in 

 various parts of the country. 



As a lecturer he was distinguished by his power of im- 

 pressing the truths of science clearly and accurately on the 

 minds of his auditory, and especially by the uniform success 

 of his experimental illustrations. The following quotation, 

 from one of his unpublished lectures, illustrating at once his 



