ch.v INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 23 



as practically nothing but Latin and Greek and a (very- 

 little) geography was taught as part of the regular 

 curriculum, and as at Oxford and Cambridge the same 

 system (with of course Mathematics at Cambridge) was 

 adopted. Soon afterwards my father's partners both 

 died, and he and I, with a worthy old clerk (Mr. Higham), 

 carried on the business, so that my father and I could 

 not be away together. I was at first of course very 

 much at sea, and found the City very lonely. No 

 doubt, however, beginning so early gave me a sort of 

 instinct for business. But though I was thus early 

 brought into harness, I had plenty of holidays. My 

 father kindly taught me Mathematics, which like all 

 Science I found interesting, but for which I had no 

 special gift. My father's mathematical genius was in 

 some respects a disadvantage. He could not see 

 difficulties where I did, and though very patient would 

 often at last say in despair, " Well, if Newton does not 

 make it clear to you, I am afraid I cannot. We must 

 go on." In other respects I made good progress, reading 

 seven or eight hours a day and devouring all sorts of 

 books, but especially those on Biology and Geology. 

 My mother's sympathy and kindness were a great help 

 and comfort. My sisters also were invaluable com- 

 panions, but my next brothers of course were at school, 

 and I had no boy of my own age to play with. This 

 threw me a good deal on myself. My health also was 

 not very good. 



In 1850 I gave my first lecture. It was at Down, on 

 the Wire worm, and was well attended by the villagers. 

 Now I began to realise how right my father was in saying 

 that Mr. Darwin's coming to live at Down was an im- 

 mense advantage to me. He induced my father to give 

 me a microscope, he let me do drawings for some of his 

 books, and I greatly enjoyed my talks and walks with 

 him. My first scientific original work was on some of 

 his collections, and appeared in the Natural History 

 Magazine for January 1853. In 1849 I was elected a 

 member of the Royal Institution, and in 1853 I attended 

 my first meeting of the British Association. In 1854 I 

 was introduced to Sir C. Lyell and Sir Joseph Hooker, 

 in 1855 to Kingsley, Prestwich, and Sir John Evans, and 

 joined the Geological Society. In 1856 I met George 

 Busk, Huxley, and Tyndall, and the following year was 



