198 HENRY DEACON 



Deacon, we are impressed by the influence, 

 we might also say the inspiration exercised 

 on a boy's mind, by a great master. Let 

 those appointed to instruct and influence the 

 young ever be our strongest characters and 

 our finest minds : the teachers chair is of 

 all places the one where dull common-place is 

 intolerable. 



But Deacon also is a notable illustration of 

 the great advantage of a thorough all round 

 training; his knowledge of mechanics and 

 geometry was good, he was a careful student 

 of chemistry, and a good practical engineer. 

 These acquisitions, with the qualities of indo- 

 mitable perseverance, unwearying industry, a 

 devotion to duty that might be described as 

 an article of faith, and shrewd common sense, 

 made him a man who has obtained a lasting 

 name in technical chemistry, and who has 

 handed down to posterity, in his numerous 

 inventions, a heritage not soon to be 

 exhausted, or in his own words, " I trust my 

 efforts will only be a prelude to a full 

 generalisation by abler hands." 



