Alfred Russel Wallace 



by equal altitudes of the sun, and also by the pole-star at 

 its upper or lower culmination ; finding the latitude by the 

 meridian altitude of the sun, or of some of the principal stars : 

 and making a rude sundial by erecting a gnomon towards 

 the pole. For these simple calculations I had Hannay and 

 Dietrichsen's Almanac, a copious publication which gave all 

 the important data in the Nautical Almanac, besides much 

 other interesting matter useful for the astronomical amateur 

 or the ordinary navigator. I also tried to make a telescope 

 by purchasing a lens of about 2 ft. focus at an optician's 

 in Swansea, fixing it in a paper tube and using the eye-piece 

 of a small opera- glass. With it I was able to observe the 

 moon and Jupiter's satellites, and some of the larger star- 

 clusters; but, of course, very imperfectly. Yet it served to 

 increase my interest in astronomy, and to induce me to study 

 with some care the various methods of construction of the 

 more important astronomical instruments; and it also led 

 me throughout my life to be deeply interested in the grand 

 onward march of astronomical discovery.''' 



At the same time Wallace became attracted by, and in- 

 terested in, the flowers, shrubs and trees growing in that 

 part of Bedfordshire, and he acquired some elementary know- 

 ledge of zoology. ^* It was," he writes, *' while living at 

 Barton that I obtained my first information that there was 

 such a science as geology. . . . My brother, like most land- 

 surveyors, was something of a geologist, and he showed me 

 the fossil oysters of the genus Gryphsea and the Belemnites 

 . . . and several other fossils which were abundant in the 

 chalk and gravel around Barton. ... It was here, too, that 

 during my solitary rambles I first began to feel the influence 

 of nature and to wish to know more of the various flowers, 

 shrubs and trees I daily met with, but of which for the most 

 part I did not even know the English names. At that time 



1 '• My Life," i. 191-2. 

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