CHAP. IT.] 



LIFE AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND. 



13 



out, where " Sinee's Battery " was devised was one having a 

 stone floor which led out of one of the drawing-rooms at the 

 house my grandfather occupied at the Bank of England. This 

 room, which produced such great works, was not worthy of the 

 appellation of laboratory. 



Through the kindness of my mother, I am enabled to give 

 a picture of this room. It was etched on copper by her brother, 

 the late Mr. William Hutchison. The lines which appear below 



FIG. 1. 



the etching were written by my father on a copy belonging to 

 my friend Miss Fooks, which she kindly placed at my disposal. 

 In this room my father worked ; he had no assistant to help him ; 

 every single experiment for ' Electro-Metallurgy,' &c., had to be 

 carried out by his own hands ; and his pecuniary means were, as 

 already observed, small to a degree. Think of this, young men 

 of talent, and turn your abilities to as good an account as Alfred 

 Smee did his, and with such a pittance ! 



The home life at the Bank was a singularly simple one. 



