THE REVIVAL OF SCIENCE 279 



and his record ; fand, being an exceptionally able 

 arid hard-working government servant, he took 

 great interest in anything which was likely to 

 affect the Navy. He discoursed with the in- 

 genious Dr. Kuffler " about his design to blow up 

 ships/' noticed " the strange nature of the sea- 

 water in a dark night, that it seemed like fire upon 

 every stroke of the oar " an effect due, of course, 

 to phosphorescent organisms floating near the 

 surface and interested himself incessantly in 

 marine matters. His troubled eyesight and his 

 love of music account for the attention he paid 

 to optical appliances, the structure of the eye, 

 musical instruments of every kind and musical 

 notation ; for this last, he seems to have invented 

 a mechanical means of composing which is still 

 preserved at Magdalene College, but which no one 

 now quite understands. 



Physiology and mortuary objects had, for him, 

 an interest which was almost morbid. He is 

 told that " negroes drounded look white, and lose 

 their blackness, which I never heard before/' 

 describes how " one of a great family was . . . 

 hanged with a silken halter ... of his own 

 preparing, not for the honour only " but because 

 it strangles more quickly. He attended regularly 



