RESEARCHES ON FORAMINIFERA. 83 



London, August 20, 1861. 

 When working on Friday evening, after my return home, upon 

 Dactylopora7 I got an entirely new hght, which revolutionized 

 my ideas of it so completely (as regards its more complex forms, 

 at least) that I could not rest until I had gone over it with Mr. 

 Parker. I worked at it all Saturday morning, and, finding 

 everything confirmatory of my new ideas, I went over to him 

 in the evening, and fortunately found him at home and dis- 

 engaged. It was quite charming to see his delight at the new 

 and more satisfactory information I was able to give him, and 

 he seemed just as glad to be shown that he was in error as if 

 he had made it all out originally himself. He gave me per- 

 mission to do anything I wished in dismounting, breaking, and 

 laying open his specimens, and I have found it desirable to 

 take almost every one (several score in all) off its slide, and 

 to examine it separately, making sections and fractures, but 

 especially finding that removing portions by acid supplied under 

 the microscope with a camel's-hair brush did most what I 

 wanted. In this way I have thoroughly succeeded, have 

 cleared up every difficulty, and have got the whole truth before 

 me in a way quite demonstrative. I never followed up a 

 scientific examination with such zest before, or had the same 

 opening out of such novelty in so short a time. 



The incident made a strong impression upon his mind. 

 He recurred to it a month later in writing from Holy 

 Island to his brother Russell. 



I never saw a more beautiful instance of thorough candour. 

 As step by step I led him from the simpler to the more complex 

 arrangements, and showed him how the latter evolved them- 

 selves out of the former, he seemed just as much pleased in 

 coming to the knowledge of a new and beautiful set of facts as 

 if he had been himself the one to find them out ; and was just 

 as ready to accept them as if he had not previously, not only 

 formed, but published a description altogether at variance with 

 what he now saw to be the truth. 



In the following year, these labours were completed by 

 the publication, under the auspices of the Ray Society, of 



