16 FIRST APPEARANCE IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 



the hoarded treasures of the miser. The power of usiny 

 knowledge is the power which has civilized the human race, 

 and its usefulness is proportionate to the facility with which 

 it is brought to the surface when wanted. 



Young Boyle, bending for hours over his books, or 

 enthusiastically engaged on a mechanical model, an experi- 

 ment in chemistry, electricity, hydraulics, or optics, out in 

 the green fields examining the structure of plants, or study- 

 ing, with the soul of an artist, the forms and tints of Nature, 

 was gathering knowledge under the influence of one 

 predominant desire to render a good account of it in the 

 future. 



It is quite unnecessary to follow the course of these early 

 studies. The seed was sown on good ground, and we shall 

 see what kind of fruit it brought forth. 



His first appearance in public affairs was at Glasgow, 

 where, observing the bad and impure quality of the bread 

 supplied by the bakers of the town, he resolved to start a 

 bakery for the manufacture of unadulterated bread. Two 

 depots were opened one in Crown Street, and another in 

 Milton Street, Cowcaddens. The task required no ordinary 

 qualities of mind to accomplish with success. People were 

 quite as apathetic in those days as they are now in matters 

 affecting their general welfare, and nothing but the vigour 

 with which he plunged into this enterprise, a vigour which 



