SECRETARY'S REPORT. 239 



lessons. From a mere boy he was a great reader, and never neg- 

 lected any opportunity for acquiring knowledge. His memory waa 

 singularly retentiv,e. and whatever he learned was well digested, and 

 arranged in so orderly a manner that it never failed to be available 

 when wanted. He early joined a mutual instruction club in his 

 native village, of which he became an active and efficient member, 

 often contributing essays, and sometimes lecturing upon various sci- 

 entific subjects which had occupied his attention. 



At the age of twenty-two, he married, and the demands of a rap- 

 idly increasing family furnished active employment during subse- 

 quent years ; but nothing could quench his thirst for knowledge, nor 

 weaken his courage in attempting its acquisition. About this time 

 he became acquainted with Dr. John Sheir, then lecturer on Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry and Botany, at the University of Aberdeen, from 

 whom he received much aid, both by personal instruction and by the 

 loan of books. In return, Mr. Cuming reciprocated the favor, by 

 conducting upon his farm series of experiments suggested by the ♦ 

 Professor, and designed to elucidate doubtful points in Agricultural 

 Chemistry. The very first season following the announcement by 

 the celebrated German chemist, Lei bin;, of his peculiar views on 

 mineral manures, and particularly of the use of bones dissolved in 

 sulphuric acid, (superphosphate of lime,) a series of experiments 

 were instituted by them, designed to test the practical value of these 

 theories. The papers, now lying by me, show a lengthened corres- 

 pondence on this subject — the minute directions of the one as to the 

 proportions to be used, and the methods of preparation and applica- 

 tion on the part of Dr. Sheir, and the careful and systematic carry- 

 ing out of these directions, and the weight of the products upon the 

 several plots by the other, possess much interest, but the limits of 

 this notice forbid a^ details of these or other experimental researches. 



Suffice it to say, that as he kept steadily on, the desire of devoting 

 himself wholly to scientific pursuits grew stronger and stronger, 

 until at the age of thirty-three, his wealth consisting chiefly of 

 a wife and five children, he entered the Royal Veterinary College, 

 at Edinburgh, as a student. Under such circumstances, it may 

 readily be imagined that his labors were unremitting, and of his suc- 

 cess, we can judge from the fact that at the examination at the end 

 of his first year, he took a medal for chemistry, it being one of four 



