96 



MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



1838. 



Conversa- 

 tion. 



Lectures. 



Mr. Richard 



Button's 



sketch. 



Then lie repeated laughingly to himself a few words 

 uttered by one of the speakers, and said, ( Poor - , he 

 does not see that if what he said were true, he would not 

 be here to say it.' As he wrote, he ' had no objection to 

 Metaphysics, far from it, but if a man takes a candle to 

 look down his own throat, he must take care not to set his 

 head on fire.' And this sense of the danger of fire, coupled 

 with the fact that his own thoughts ran in new channels, 

 made him unwilling to speak on Metaphysical questions 

 except to the few who were already familiar with his 

 ideas. Logic and Mathematics were different, being in 

 some degree out of the reach of ' fire.' But his beliefs in 

 mental and physical science were founded on that of a 

 constantly producing and constantly sustaining Creator ; 

 and he was never found assenting to systems based only 

 on observation of material nature. It might be that 

 observation had not gone far enough when it resulted in 

 such expressions as ( forces inherent in matter,' but he 

 said such expressions were only a step in the road to 

 atheism. The present state of scientific belief in some 

 measure justifies this. 



The morning lecture and explanation lasted from 

 9 A.M. till 10.30, when he came home, but only to attend 

 to work of different kinds, or to a private pupil, of whom 

 two or three came to him while we lived in Gower Street, 

 and afterwards in Camden Street. The afternoon lecture 

 was from 3 to 4.30, when he returned to dinner, and for 

 the little rest he allowed himself before a long evening of 

 writing, only interrupted by an hour's talk with me, or 

 occasionally with some friend who might visit us. 



As I cannot describe my husband in his character of 

 Professor, I thankfully give two little sketches of his mode 



children's books of forty years ago was a Philosopher ; he was 

 sententious ; he said, " From this we may learn, and let us all 

 take warning," and he had a " small but well-selected library 

 (may it perish with him), containing no poets except Young and 

 Akenside.'" . . . (Unfinished.) 



