X OBITUARY 267 



whose lectures were accessible to those who chose 

 to attend them. The occupants of these chairs, in 

 Darwin's time, were eminent men and also admir- 

 able lecturers in their widely different styles. The 

 horror of geological lectures which Darwin had 

 acquired at Edinburgh, unfortunately prevented 

 him from going within reach of the fervid elo- 

 quence of Sedgwick ; but he attended the botanical 

 course, and though he paid no serious attention to 

 the subject, he took great delight in the country 

 excursions, which Henslow so well knew how to 

 make both pleasant and instructive. The 

 Botanical Professor was, in fact, a man of rare 

 character and singularly extensive acquirements 

 in all branches of natural history. It was his 

 greatest pleasure to place his stores of knowledge 

 at the disposal of the young men who gathered 

 about him, and who found in him, not merely an 

 encyclopedic teacher but a wise counsellor, and, 

 in case of worthiness, a warm friend. Darwin's 

 acquaintance with him soon ripened into a friend- 

 ship which was terminated only by Henslow's 

 death in 1861, when his quondam pupil gave 

 touching expression to his sense of what he owed 

 to one whom he calls (in one of his letters) his 

 " dear old master in Natural History." (IT. p. 217.) 

 It was by Henslow's advice that Darwin was led 

 to break the vow he had registered against making 

 an acquaintance with geology ; and it was through 

 Henslow's good offices with Sedgwick that he 



