62 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



had taken a little cottage — was soon full of these 

 treasures. It was now that he began very seriously to 

 feel the disadvantage of being able to read and write 

 only with difficulty. Arithmetic was an unknown 

 subject to him. He had never up to this time read 

 a book on Natural History, so that all the knowledge of 

 the various insects and animals he had gathered was 

 his own discovering. He was looked upon by those 

 with whom he worked as queer and uncanny. Drink 

 was the pleasure of his shoj)mates, but he had no dis- 

 sipation of this kind to indulge in. He was of a 

 thoughtful and retiring disposition. His love of nature 

 intensified, and to use his own words : "I can never 

 succeed in describing my unbounded admiration of the 

 works of the Almighty ; not only the wonderful works 

 which we ourselves see upon earth, but those wondrous 

 and countless millions of orbs which roll, both near and 

 far, in the endless immensity of space, the Home of 

 Eternity ! Every living thing that moves or lives, 

 everything that grows, everything created or formed 

 by the hand or the will of the Omnipotent, has such 

 a fascinating charm for me, and sends such a thrill of 

 pleasure through my whole frame, that to describe my 

 feelings is utterly impossible." 



At the age of twenty-four, and after he had been 

 one year married, Edward commenced in real earnest 

 to make a collection of natural history objects. His 

 apparatus was of the rudest description. Bottles, nets, 

 and boxes for his insects were all of his own adapting, 

 and such as he could make or procure without much 

 expense, as he had neither money nor time to waste. 



