MEMOIR. xvii 



be their high aim to acquire and deserve the 

 name of christian gentlemen. May it be said of 

 my house, not that ^ all the sons "were brave and 

 all the daughters virtuous,' but that all the sons 

 were upright and honorable, and all the daugh- 

 ters good 1" 



Dr. Binney loved the works of nature, not 

 as objects of scientific interest only, but as 

 the beautiful manifestations of Divine Wisdom, 

 adapted, at the same time, to afford the well- 

 disposed mind gratification of the purest and 

 deepest kind. As a lover of nature, he viewed 

 with delight the whole landscape ; as a natural- 

 ist, he loved to study the relations of individual 

 objects. And he loved art, because it is the 

 nearest material approach which man makes to- 

 wards the handiwork of the Creator. His love 

 for Natural History was early manifested. When 

 quite a child, his chamber was garnished with 

 stones, shells, strings of birds' eggs, and such other 

 objects as are likely to attract juvenile observa- 

 tion. He commenced a collection of shells while 

 in college. The interest of his father in mining 

 tended early to direct his attention to the study 

 of minerals ; but perhaps nothing contributed so 

 much to enkindle his interest in the wonders 



VOL. I. 



