in.] ORIGIN OF TASTE FOR SCIENCE. 157 



(19) [The following is an extract from bio- 

 graphical notes kindly communicated to me of 

 the late Archibald Smith.] " Yachting would 

 give an interest to all nautical matters, and the 

 intimacy of his father with .... gave a bias 

 towards magnetism. In a letter to one of his 

 sisters (no date, ? about 1838), he says : ' .... 

 told me he was going to write directions for 

 ships, finding and allowing for the error caused 

 by the local attraction of ships. So, for my own 

 amusement and partly to help him, I wrote a 

 set of instructions and gave them to him/ His 

 mind was thus turned to the subject. I think it 

 was natural to him to inquire into "the reason 

 of things. Fond of figures when a* boy." 

 (a, 6, c, /) 



(20) " My interest in mathematics began at 

 .... [university], and was mainly due to the 

 energy and encouragement of my tutor . . . . ; 

 but Professor .... first inspired me with the 

 sense of the magnificence of mathematics." (g) 



