206 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. IX. 



His assistants in the laboratory and lecture-room were 

 objects of much interest to him, and in almost every case his 

 regard was warmly reciprocated. One of them says : " He 

 always treated us as if we were his dearest friends ;" showing 

 that the delicate courtesy of his manners was appreciated. 

 Another writes, " I shall never require anything to remind 

 me of one who was so true a friend of mine at all times, and 

 whose memory I respect beyond that of any other man I 

 ever knew." This attractiveness was one of the most remark- 

 able features of his character ; while it made him almost 

 idolized by the circle of friends to whom he was best 

 known, it extended to his public audiences, and even to 

 the chance acquaintances of a day or hour. " The won- 

 derful power he had in his genial happy nature of making 

 others love him, is strange and almost overpowering in its 

 manifestations." One who knew him from his writings 

 says, " So much of the man himself came out in all that 

 he said or wrote, that even in those who knew him only 

 from his public actings, there insensibly grew up the 

 feeling of personal attachment to the great heart that 

 welled over in his writings and addresses." To multiply 

 testimonies of affection of a striking nature would be easy, 

 but they could no more convey an impression of the truth 

 than would a description of the fragrance of a bouquet of 

 flowers, bring back the exquisite aroma which was so 

 gladdening and refreshening. Friends who knew him will 

 think this attempt to speak of his loveableness a failure, 

 while to others it may seem overstrained and unnatural. 

 We shall only, therefore, in addition say, that no one was 

 more surprised at it than himself. What could make So 

 and-So take such a fancy for him, showing it by untiring 

 labour on his behalf, was often a subject of speculation, 

 the riddle being sometimes solved by his saying that there 



