9& REMINISCENCES OF 



" calamity than Sturgeon's death." In 1845 came the 

 terrible potato disease, which led to so many political 

 and social changes ; various committees, on several 

 of which I sat, were selected out of the scientific 

 circles of Manchester to investigate its causes and 

 remedies. Much good work was done in connection 

 with the preservation of the tubers after they were 

 taken out of the ground, but I now know that 

 the time had not yet arrived for discovering 

 and remedying the causes of the mischief. It 

 was only at the close of the year when the 

 potatoes were dug up that the prevalence of the 

 disease was discovered, but the harm had been done 

 in the early summer. Botanists were not familiar 

 with the life-history of the Fungus Peronospora 

 infestans, which attacked and destroyed the green 

 aerial parts of the plant in the young state, and 

 prevented the formation of the starch grains, which 

 ought to have filled the cells of the tubers but 

 which did not, because it had been thus destroyed. 



During the fourth decade of this century the 

 subject of clairvoyance had been much discussed 

 in social circles, and in the early days of my pro- 

 fessional life two men who lectured on the subject 

 visited Manchester. The first of these was a French- 

 man, who illustrated his lecture by experiments on 

 a young woman. At one of his lectures the girl was 

 declared to be in a state of sound sleep. A con- 

 siderable number of medical men were present, in- 

 cluding our leading ophthalmist, Mr. Wilson, and 



