ADDRESS OF PROF. A. M. MAYER. 505 



been to many of the human race. I entered the shop of a book- 

 seller and bookbinder at the age of 13, in the year 1804, remaining 

 there eight years, and during the chief part of the time bound books. 

 Now it was in those books, in the hours after work, that I found the 

 beginning of my philosophy. There were two that especially helped 

 me, the ' Encyclopedia Britannica/ from which I gained my first 

 notions of electricity, and Mrs. Marcet's ' Conversations on Chem- 

 istry/ which gave me my foundation in that science. 



" Do not suppose that I was a very deep thinker, or was marked 

 as a precocious person. I was a lively, imaginative person, and 

 could believe in the 'Arabian Nights' as easily as in the 'Ency- 

 clopedia.' But facts were important to me and saved me. I 

 could trust a fact, and always cross-examined an assertion. So 

 when I questioned Mrs. Marcet's book by such little experiments 

 as I could find means to perform, and found it true to the facts 

 as I could understand them, I felt that I had got hold of an 

 anchor in chemical knowledge, and clung fast to it. Thence my 

 deep veneration for Mrs. Marcet first, as one who had conferred 

 great personal good and pleasure on me; and then as one able 

 to convey the truth and principle of those boundless fields of 

 knowledge which concern natural things to the young, untaught, 

 and inquiring mind. 



" You may imagine my delight when I came to know Mrs. Marcet 

 personally ; how often I cast my thoughts backward, delighting to 

 connect the past and present ; how often, when sending a paper to 

 her as a thank-offering, I thought of my first instructress, and such 

 thoughts will remain with me." 



Henry wrote on the inside of the cover of Gregory's work the 

 following words : " This book, although by no means a profound 

 work, has, under Providence, exerted a remarkable influence on my 

 life. It accidentally fell into my hands when I was about sixteen 

 years old, and was the first book I ever read with attention. It 

 opened to me a new world of thought and enjoyment ; invested 

 things before almost unnoticed with the highest interest; fixed 

 my mind on the study of nature, and caused me to resolve at the 

 time of reading it that I would immediately commence to devote 

 my life to the acquisition of knowledge. J. H." 



