in.] ORIGIN OF TASTE FOE SCIENCE. 155 



systematic scientific education, in the company 

 of .... and others. Forced back into profes- 

 sional life, special scientific inquiry has not been 

 possible ; but I have had opportunities of aiding 

 the progress of science, which I have endea- 

 voured to make the best of." (a, d,f, h) 



(14) "Largely determined by my service in 

 north polar and equatorial expeditions." (d, li) 



(15) "I am not aware of any innate taste for 

 science^ I can only remember in boyhood the 

 influence of the Philosophical Society of .... 

 and of a juvenile philosophical society in which 

 I took interest. My interest in astronomy, es- 

 pecially, was very small indeed, until I was 

 appointed [to the directorship of an obser- 

 vatory]/' (d) 



Mathematical Subsection. 



(16) "I always regarded mathematics as the 

 method of obtaining the best shapes and dimen- 

 sions of things ; and this meant not only the 

 most useful and economical, but chiefly the most 

 harmonious and the most beautiful. . I was 



