146 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



Though Duncan was slow in learning the thorny techni- 

 calities of the hard science he had set himself to conquer, 

 he was intensely in earnest, patient beyond expression, 

 eager to be taught, and humble as a child in his readi- 

 ness to sit at the feet of his young teacher a most praise- 

 worthy trait, revealing finer touches of character and a true 

 scientific spirit in a man twenty years Black's senior, who 

 had seen and studied so much already. Such perseverance 

 became its own reward, for John " got on," and his mastery 

 over the subject grew apace. To aid him in his private 

 study in the workshop, and to relieve his willing tutor 

 from unnecessary trouble, he picked up, at his first visit to 

 Aberdeen, a copy of " Pinnock's Catechism of Botany," a 

 small introductory handbook, his first purchase in the 

 science, with which he afterwards inoculated many a disciple, 

 and which he preserved to the end as a pleasant memorial 

 of early struggles in Botany. He used to bring with 

 him bundles of plants when he came up to Whitehouse 

 in the evening, which he gave to the gardener, asking him 

 " to botanise heigh-oot" That is, he was to begin at the 

 very first elements in discovering a plant, and tell at every 

 step what he was doing ; uttering aloud all his processes 

 and conclusions, till he fixed its class, variety, and name, 

 with reasons for each determination. John would himself 

 then retrace the same ground in detail, under Charles's 

 eye. 



Though it was a considerable time before he could 

 decipher a plant independently, he succeeded at last. 

 Then followed the exquisite delight of self-discovery, 

 crowned by the triumphant eureka when a difficult plant 

 was finally made out. 



