198 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



B. FORTUNATE ACCIDENTS. 



We next come to a group of cases which 

 imply a latent taste for science, namely, where 

 a lifelong pursuit of it was first determined by 

 some small accident. The previous indifference 

 pr equilibrium of the mind was unstable, a push 

 was accidentally given, its position was wholly 

 changed, and it rested in one of stable equili- 

 brium. These cases are not numerous only 

 10 altogether but I put them in the second 

 place on account of their affinity to those in 

 the first. 



Physics and Mathematics. (19). [Refer to 

 this.] 



Chemistry. (1) Possession of a chemical box 

 when I was a little boy. (3) From lectures I 

 attended when a boy. (9) To reading by acci- 

 dent a book on chemistry. 



Geology. (2) Fossiliferous rocks near the 

 school where I was. 



