PREFACE. vii 



purchase out of the savings of his single bakery. I also 

 found that Robert Dick was a profound botanist. I 

 found, to my humiliation, that this baker knew infinitely 

 more of botanical science ay, ten times more than I 

 did ; and that there were only some twenty or thirty 

 British plants that he had not collected. Some he had 

 obtained as presents, some he had purchased, but the 

 greater portion had been accumulated by his own 

 industry in his native county of Caithness. These 

 specimens 'were all arranged in most beautiful order, 

 with their respective names and habitats ; and he is so 

 excellent a botanist that he might well have been a 

 professed ornament of Section D [Zoology and Botany]. 

 I have mentioned these facts," concluded the Baronet, 

 " in order that the audience may deduce a practical 

 application." 



This notice of Robert Dick, by a man of so much 

 eminence as Sir Roderick Murchison, interested me 

 greatly. His perseverance in the cause of Science, 

 while pursuing the occupations of his daily labour his 

 humility, his modesty, and his love of nature were 

 things well worthy of being commemorated. But I was 

 at that time unable to follow up my inquiries. I could 

 merely mention him in Self-Help, which was published 

 in the following year, as an instance of cheerful, horest 

 working, and of energetic effort to make the most of 

 small means and ordinary opportunities. 



