OF JOHN EDDOWES BOWMAN, ESQ. fi 
indeed surprising. Imbedded in the broken frag- 
ments which form the stone-walls of Derbyshire, 
he discovered a fossil before unknown, which has 
been named from him,* but so exceedingly dimi- 
nutive, that, in the specimens containing it, the 
eye of the ordinary observer had to be guided by 
narrow slips of white paper pointing towards it. 
The shortness of his vision might, in this respect, 
be considered as a sort of optic power with which 
nature had furnished him for pursuing his pecu- 
liar line of research; and his example instruc- 
tively shows, how a thoughtful, active mind may 
convert even a natural defect into a means of ad- 
ditional usefulness and enjoyment. It would, 
however, be greatly wronging his memory to in- 
sinuate, that his singular acuteness and accuracy 
of observation were due even principally to phy- 
sical causes; these may have contributed to give 
the original determination to his studies, but the 
eminent success which attended his cultivation of 
science, must be ascribed to mental and moral 
discipline. His early habit of recording the im- 
pressions and observations that had occurred in 
the course of the day, his strict economy of time, 
and the power which he had acquired of concen- 
trating his whole attention on the object before 
* Endothyra Bowmanni. 
