52 MEMOIR OF DR. DALTON, AND 



He was rather above the middle size, five feet seven inches. 

 Mr. Giles, who read a memoir of him to the Manchester 

 Society, and who was his pupil, says that " he was robust, 

 athletic, muscular, and stooped slightly as if hasting forward, 

 for he was a rapid walker. His countenance was open and 

 manly. His voice was deep and gruff; and his lectures were 

 by no means interesting, except to those who were satisfied 

 with matter independent of style : he even spoke in a careless 

 and mumbling manner." He was a Quaker, as has been said, 

 and dressed in their peculiar manner, taking care that every 

 article of dress should be of the finest texture, but avoiding 

 the extreme of formality. In his general conversation he 

 did not adopt their style ; and never gave any opinion on 

 religious subjects. His most intimate friends found him re- 

 served on such points, although at times they found that 

 there was in him great reverence and deep feeling. But he 

 evidently did not think much on religious subjects, and seems 

 not even to have formed strong opinions upon them, giving 

 way to the opinions of those around him, like one unable or 

 unwilling to form them for himself. If this were the case 

 only with such subjects as are peculiarly religious, we might 

 suppose that it arose simply from a want of agreement with 

 current opinions which he was unwilling to disturb, but as 

 he stood in the same attitude towards metaphysical opinions, 

 we may fairly conclude that those faculties which discuss 

 the moral and intellectual history and position of man, were 

 not highly developed in Dalton. It would not be wise to 

 conclude that they were weak, because we find that he had 

 a great power of concentration, and in his ardent study of a 

 subject he seems to have allowed the rest of his mind to be 

 satisfied with meditative culture. In early life he seemed 

 inclined to answer moral and metaphysical questions in the 

 Gentleman's Magazine; and occasionally a lady would in- 

 duce him to write a few lines of such poetry as a well- 

 educated man is generally able to write. But his life was 



