212 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



the practical investigation of it for oneself. At 

 this point of a man's mental progress the help 

 of a friend may be of immense assistance; he 

 may give elementary hints which will remove 

 formidable difficulties to a beginner, who is 

 utterly unused to experiment. It is told, I 

 think, of a scholar, that he laboured for succes- 

 sive days to make with his own hands in his 

 own chambers a plum-pudding according to a 

 time-honoured family recipe, but he produced 

 nothing except thick pastes or stirabouts of 

 different degrees of lumpiness, revolting to the 

 sight. At length he confided his difficulties to 

 a lady, who explained, that in making plum- 

 puddings it was a matter of course, and therefore 

 not spoken of in the recipe, to put the ingre- 

 dients into a bag before beginning to boil them. 

 The example of a friend encourages a young 

 man to overcome his diffidence and to firmly 

 occupy any position that he knows by his own 

 judgment to be true. Perhaps the greatest help 

 of all is the consciousness of strength which is 

 given by co-operation on not very unequal terms 

 with a veteran in performance and reputation. 



