THE BIRKBECK INSTITUTION. 227 



which, being practically insoluble, was precipitated. 

 All this was predicted beforehand by the lecturer ; but 

 the delight with which I saw his prediction fulfilled, by 

 the conversion of the limpid lime-water into a turbid 

 mixture of chalk and water, remains with me as a 

 memory to . the present hour. The students of the 

 Birkbeck Institution may therefore grant me the 

 honour of ranking myself among them as a fellow- 

 student of a former generation. 



At the invitation of an officer of the Royal Engi- 

 neers, who afterwards became one of my most esteemed 

 and intimate friends, I quitted school in 1839, to join 

 a division of the Ordnance Survey. The profession of 

 a civil engineer having then great attractions for me, 

 I joined the Survey, intending, if possible, to make 

 myself master of all its operations as a first step to- 

 wards becoming a civil engineer. Draughtsmen were 

 the best paid, and I became a draughtsman. But I 

 habitually made incursions into the domains of the cal- 

 culator and computer, and thus learned all their art. 

 In due time the desire to make myself master of field 

 operations caused me to apply for permission to go to 

 the field. The permission was granted by my excellent 

 friend General George Wynne, 1 who then, as Lieutenant 

 Wynne, observed and did all he could to promote my 

 desire for improvement. Before returning to the office 

 I had mastered all the mysteries of ordinary field work. 

 But there remained a special kind of field work which 

 had not been mastered the taking of trigonometrical 

 observations. By good fortune some work of this kind 

 was required at a time when all the duly-recognised 

 observers were absent. Under the tutelage of a clever 

 master, named Conwill, I had acquired, before quitting 



1 Died at Cologne on June 27, 1890 ; and was buried there with 

 military honours on June 30. 



