CHAP. VIII. ROBERT SENT TO COLLEGE. 145 



sent liim to the Edinburgh University, there being then \ 

 no college in England accessible to persons of moderate 

 means, for purposes of scientific culture. Eobert was 

 furnished with letters of introduction to several men of 

 scientific eminence in Edinburgh ; his father's reputation 

 in connexion with the safety-lamp being of service to 

 him in this respect. He lodged in Drummond Street, 

 in the immediate vicinity of the college, and attended 

 the Chemical Lectures of Dr. Hope, the Natural Phi- 

 losophy Lectures of Sir John Leslie, and the Natural 

 History Class of Professor Jameson. He also devoted 

 several evenings in each week to the study of practical 

 Chemistry under Dr. John Murray, himself one of the 

 numerous designers of a safety-lamp. The young student 

 entered upon his studies with so keen a zest and interest, 

 his mind was so ripe for the pursuit and reception of 

 knowledge, and he prosecuted his labours with such 

 laborious zeal, that it is not too much to say that in the 

 six months' study to which his college career was 

 limited, he acquired more real knowledge than the 

 average of students do during their entire course. He 

 took careful notes of all the lectures, which he copied 

 out at night before he went to bed ; so that, when he 

 returned to Killingworth, he might read them over to 

 his father. He afterwards had the notes bound up, and 

 placed in his library. Long years after, when conversing 

 with Thomas Harrison, C.E., at his house in Gloucester 

 Square, Mr. Stephenson rose from his seat and took 

 down a volume from the shelves. Mr. Harrison ob- 

 served that the book was in MS., neatly written out. 

 " What have we here ? " he asked. The answer was 

 " When I went to college, I knew the difficulty my father 

 had in collecting the funds to send me there. Before 

 going I studied short-hand ; while at Edinburgh, I took 

 down verbatim every lecture ; and in the evenings, before 

 I went to bed, I transcribed those lectures word for 

 word. You see the result in that range of books." 



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