130 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



Religious sentiments weak, accompanied with 

 more or less Scepticism. 1. [Being compelled 

 to attend frequent chapels at college, he, for 

 ten years afterwards, refused to enter either 

 church or chapel]. 2. " The negative ten- 

 dencies of my family may be absence of piety 

 . . . ." 3. " Religious feeling not great." 4. 

 " Sceptical." 5. " Not much religious bias ex- 

 cept in a boundless admiration of nature." 6. 

 " I gave up common religious belief, almost 

 independently from my own reflection." 

 " Bias towards freedom of thought in religious 

 matters/' 



Intellectual interest in religious topics. 1. 

 " Entertained at an early age independent views 

 regarding the resurrection and salvation of the 

 heathen, which led to frequent disputes." 2. 

 " At school I became a sceptic, and even worked 

 out in my own somewhat (at that time) reserved 

 mind, a kind of idealism. I afterwards had a 

 phase of religious fervour, but worked through 

 it." 3. "Given to theological ideas, and not 

 reticent about them." 4 " Instinctive (or 



