A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 71 



exercised over me. It shielded me from perils that 

 thickly strewed my path, until I attained to years 

 and a social position, in which I was safe against 

 the temptations that bring so many youths to ruin. 

 I may also mention here that the introduction to 

 these three families led at a later period to one 

 of the most important events of my life. It was at 

 the house of Mr. Johnstone I met with the lady who, 

 in 1842, became my wife, and with whom I lived in 

 happy union for a period of twenty-nine years. 



In the summer of 1838 the time appeared to me 

 to have arrived for resigning my curatorship and 

 preparing to resume my medical studies. The 

 former I did in June, intending to become student 

 in one of the two competing medical schools of 

 Manchester, when its next session should commence 

 in October. But the important fact stared me in the 

 face, that funds were required for carrying out this 

 plan. I had already provided diagrams and a small 

 collection of fossils, in illustration of a course of 

 six public lectures on geology, and I then made 

 arrangements for their delivery in various towns 

 where I happened to have personal friends. I began 

 my series at Bolton, in Lancashire, and continued it 

 in Wigan, Warrington, Blackburn, Knaresborough, 

 Harrogate, Ripon, Scarborough, and Hull. The 

 work was hard, and its remuneration limited; 

 nevertheless, the money thus earned served to carry 

 me through the winter session, including the pay- 

 ment of medical school fees ; and to supply me with 



