528 Royal Astronomical Society \ Anniversary, 1844. 



In 1784, when in his sixteenth year, he was sent to Edinburgh to 

 learn the trade of a bookbinder ; and after a year or two of probation 

 he entered upon a regular apprenticeship to this craft. But his pas- 

 sion for the acquisition of knowledge had been thoroughly roused 

 by the perusal of some books which had fallen in his way ; and, 

 during the period of his apprenticeship, he devoted every spare mo- 

 ment to reading. These moments were, however, few. His master 

 happened to be a person who had no sympathy with literary tastes, 

 and no other concern about his apprentices than how to extract 

 from them the greatest amount of labour. But his father, a man of 

 considerable intelligence and strict religious principles, having re- 

 moved with his family to Edinburgh, he had the comfort of residing, 

 during this period, in the house of his parents, and the advantage of 

 their society, encouragement and moral superintendence, to which 

 he professed himself to have been greatly indebted. His occupation, 

 also, was in some respects favourable to the gratification of his 

 tastes. Books of science were constantly passing through his hands, 

 and his curiosity could not be restrained from occasionally casting a 

 glance at their contents. He had also acquired a few mathematical 

 books of his own ; and such were his ardour and enthusiasm in their 

 study, that it was his constant practice to take his meals with one 

 of them in his hand, and to carry one in his pocket, to read on his 

 way to and from the workshop. By this assiduous application, be- 

 fore he reached the age of twenty, he had read and made himself 

 master of Cunn's Euclid, Itonayne's Algebra, Wright's Trigono- 

 metry, Wilson's Navigation, Emerson's Fluxions, Robertson's Trans- 

 lation of La Hire's Conic Sections, and Keill's Astronomy. Of these 

 books he cherished the remembrance, as the means by which he had 

 been enabled to grope his way into the region of the mathematics. 



Hitherto, Mr. Wallace's efforts to acquire knowledge had been 

 made under the most disadvantageous circumstances : without sym- 

 pathy from any one but his father, and without a companion or friend 

 to appreciate his exertions or applaud his success. But he was now 

 approaching the turning-point of his fortunes. He happened to be- 

 come acquainted with an elderly person, a carpenter by occupation, 

 who was employed by the celebrated Dr. John Robison, the Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Philosophy, as an assistant in his class experiments. 

 This man, though a great reader of books, was no mathematician ; 

 but he had sat too near the feet of Gamaliel not to have imbibed a 

 respect for the science, and for the pursuits of his young friend. 

 With an excusable vanity, he was in the habit of boasting of his in- 

 timacy with the Professor, to whom he proposed to introduce Mr. 

 Wallace. The latter, however, with great good sense, declined the 

 kindly meant offer until the term of his apprenticeship had expired, 

 when, though still with some diffidence and hesitation, he was pre- 

 vailed upon to take advantage of it. Armed with a letter from his 

 humble patron, he waited upon the Professor, who received him with 

 great kindness, examined him with respect to his proficiency in geo- 

 metry and the conic sections, and inquired into the circumstances of 

 his life, and the means by which he had made so much progress in the 



