10 LOEWENFELD, Contributions to the History of Science. 



branch of science to venture for the present to accept 

 the proposal }'ou have done me the honour to make. 

 I have also another object in view to which I am 

 desirous of devotinc^ myself uninterruptedly. My 

 excellent friend Dr. Dalton, after the severe seizure 

 which threatened his life early last year, bequeathed 

 his scientific papers and unpublished manuscripts to 

 my care, and I should therefore feel it my duty in the 

 work which at his advanced age and impaired health 

 cannot be very remote to attempt some biographical 

 notice of him and some analysis of his scientific dis- 

 coveries. When I last saw him his physical health 

 was materially improved, but his memory and articu- 

 lation have been much weakened. 



It is now some months since I ceased to reside in 

 Manchester. I find the leisure and retirement of a 

 country life infinitely more favourable to intellectual 

 pursuits than the excitement and turmoil of a great 

 com.mercial community. 



Believe me, my dear Sir, 



With sincere respects, 



Yours most faithfully, 



Wri. Charle-S Henry. 

 The Revd. James Yates,'' M.A., etc., 



49, Upper Bedford Place, London. 



One may consider this little incident hardly important. 

 But still I thought it worth mentioning, as it gives us an 

 idea as to the general trustworthiness of Henry as a 

 historian. It will be remembered that the still unsettled 

 question regarding the origin of the atomic theory depends, 

 to a great extent, on statements made in this biographical 

 book, as William Charles Henry was a pupil of Dalton, 

 one of those fortunate men whom Dalton, for a fee of 

 IS. 6d. per hour, introduced into the intricacies of chemistry. 



* James Yates (1789-1871), Unitarian and anti<|uary, secretary to council 

 of British Association in 1S31. 



