THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



evenings at a school composed of his former associates, 

 all older than himself, as much as he had been able 

 to learn. When he was fifteen, he was called to Ken- 

 dal by a cousin who had a school there, and placed 

 as second in charge thereof. Here he acquired 

 knowledge of the Latin and Greek authors of an- 

 tiquity. In Kendal resided a Mr. Gough, a man of 

 fortune and of distinction, who, although blind, was 

 devoted to scientific study, and lived surrounded by 

 his books and philosophical apparatus. Under his 

 instruction, and by assisting in his experiments, Dai- 

 ton acquired that taste and power for the observation 

 of the facts of natural science that led to the dis- 

 coveries that have immortalized him. This intimate 

 connection between them lasted eight years. In 1793 

 the town of Manchester founded a College, and ap- 

 plied to Mr. Gough for a Professor for the Chair of 

 Mathematics, and Dal ton was appointed to it. 

 Among his first contributions to science was a paper 

 upon the " Vision of Colors," in which he described 

 an aberration of sight, color blindness, from which he 

 suffered. He could not distinguish between red, 

 purple and blue. This affection of sight has since 

 been known as " Daltonism." He thought this con- 

 dition was due to the color of the fluids in his eyes. 

 By his direction, his eyes were examined after death, 

 and the crystalline lenses were found to be slightly yel- 

 170 



