MEMOIR. XV11 
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 ! " 
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 
