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- 



