154 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



cary's phial, &c. I was then about 12 years old. 

 My grandfather had scientific tastes to some 

 degree. My grandmother's brother .... was a 

 good amateur chemist and astronomer. He was 

 a well-known leader of musical, and to some 

 extent, of scientific society, at . . . ." (a) 



(13) "A mathematical tendency, I think, led 

 me first towards .... inquiry, to which I have 

 been faithful ever since. Professional duties and 

 civil engineering kept up a disposition to appre-. 

 ciate the material constituents of the world, and 

 led, through surveying, in the direction of phy- 

 sical geography. The distinct origin of my 

 desire to place myself among scientific students 

 was the wonderful impression produced on me 

 by the aspect of nature, as seen in the .... 

 combined with what I may call the accident of 

 my having been allowed to explore a part of it 

 in an official capacity. Having thus made 

 rather large botanical and geological collections, 

 I came to England with them, and while em- 

 ployed in arranging and distributing them, 

 picked up a certain rather irregular and un- 



