166 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP 



our childhood rambles, on the plants and ani- 

 mals we saw. She told me that crabs were 

 f sea-spiders/ and periwinkles (Littorince) f sea- 

 snails/ I feel sure she had never read ' De 

 Maillet ! '...." (a, e) 



(5) "I believe I inherited my general taste for 

 scientific pursuits from my grandmother; but 

 my choosing .... for special investigation re- 

 sulted from a positive fascination which .the very 

 obscurity of the subject exerted upon my mind. 

 It was perhaps a mere desire to unravel the 

 marvellous. My scientific tastes were largely 

 promoted by the attractive teaching of [ .... 

 various professors]." (a, c, e, g) 



(6) " Thoroughly innate. I had no regular 

 instruction, and can think of no event which 

 especially helped to develop it. Bones and shells 

 were attractive to me before I could consider 

 them with any apparent profit, and books of 

 natural history were my delight. I had a fair 

 zoological collection by the time I was 15. My 

 father had no scientific knowledge ; nevertheless, 

 he encouraged me in all my tastes, giving me 



