FOUR COURSES OF LOWELL LECTURES. 391 



Sabbath, February 2. Morning at the Old South, and 

 partook of the sacrament. In the afternoon at the Brattle- 

 Street Church, preacher, Mr. Frothingham. The reg- 

 ular incumbent is Rev. Dr. Lothrop, a moderate Unita- 

 rian, and an excellent man. Mr. Abbott Lawrence and 

 family attend here. Mr. Lawrence said to me that he 

 could not go along with Dr. Channing. 



February 4. A very agreeable dinner-party at Mr. 

 William Lawrence's. Among the guests were Lieutenant- 

 Governor Hull and Dr. Charles T. Jackson. We inspected, 

 on our return, Wightman's chemical apparatus, which he is 

 constructing for our next course, and found satisfactory 

 progress and skilful construction. There were five invita- 

 tions for the evening, of which we accepted three and de- 

 clined two. We called at Mr. Winslow's, then at Mr. Ed- 

 ward Tuckerman's, and finished at Mr. Armstrong's, where 

 there was an elegant party assembled in superb rooms. 

 Having been much fatigued during the day, I found'it in- 

 convenient to remain standing during so many hours as the 

 party might last. But the retreat which I had contem- 

 plated was prevented by an unexpected honor. Mr. Arm- 

 strong committed his lady to my care to lead the company 

 to the supper-table, and to do its honors, at least as an aux- 

 iliary. Of course I braced myself up to the requirements 

 of the occasion, and literally stood it out. I was at home 

 by eleven o'clock, and found time and strength for reading 

 Darwin's delightful work on the " Natural History and 

 Geology of South America." Darwin was the naturalist 

 of the exploring expedition of the British ships Adventure 

 and Beagle, between 1826-1836; making a voyage around 

 the world. The reading of this work has been a recreation 

 at night, after the labors of the day and evening. 



After the lapse of a year, Mr. Silliman was again 

 in Boston, to commence the first of his three courses 

 on Chemistry. 



