380 BROTHERS AND SISTERS. 



constrained to append a condensed and connected sum- 

 mary of their lives. 



I will first mention my brother William, snatched, 

 alas! so early from us. How in a foreign land, which 

 he set foot upon without any acquaintances and in- 

 troductions and with very limited means, he worked 

 himself up to a position of great distinction, has been 

 admirably recorded by the pen of so competent a writer 

 as Dr. Pole. Many foreigners, Germans among the rest, 

 have made their fortunes in England, but that has 

 usually depended on certain lucky hits, among which 

 a single invention of great material importance is com- 

 monly to be reckoned. William achieved more, he 

 forced the public opinion of England to honour him in 

 his life-time, and in a still more striking manner after 

 his death, as one of the leading spirits, to whom the 

 country owes the great development of its technical 

 industry by the diffusion and application of scientific 

 knowledge. By participating indefatigably in the work 

 of the numerous associations, which made good in Eng- 

 land the previous want of sound preliminary technical 

 education, William contributed much to bringing English 

 engineering up to the level of advanced physical science, 

 and it redounds to England's honour to have impartially 

 acknowledged this service on the part of a foreigner. 

 William's exertions were considerably assisted by the 

 uninterrupted and close connection with his brothers, 

 and by his marriage with the amiable Miss Gordon of 

 an honourable Scottish family, which made it easier for 

 him to obtain a firm footing in English society. 



