210 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. IV. 



I knew they would not give two chemical prizes. It is some 

 reward for our three days' work, that I was chosen among the 

 few severed from the 1 1 9 as worthy of special regard. Chris- 

 tison said of my Thesis, that it was ' very ingenious ; ' this he 

 said to some friend, for he never expressed an opinion to me, 

 and I have no thought of asking him for praise. Hope criti- 

 cised it in public the day before, very cautiously, without com 

 mitting himself as to its value, but seasoned it with a wholesome 

 advice about the delicacy of the experiments, and the propriety 

 of their frequent repetition ; but I have no thought of taking his 

 advice, as I am quite satisfied with my experiments and my 

 conclusions. I have to thank him, however, for making a 

 groundless objection to one portion, which will induce me to 

 add another portion to my Thesis, so as to take away the last 

 prop of the false theory. It will be published soon, i.e., in a 

 month or two, in the volume to be issued by the University 

 Club, but separate copies will also be printed ; in truth, it is a 

 College law, that if a Thesis be printed, so many copies (forty 

 or seventy) must be sent to the University. 



" It is not every author who is provided with readers in this 

 way, and spared the necessity of invoking gentle readers and a 

 generous public. I shall probably (for I am restricted as to 

 room in the Club volume) incorporate a portion of the supple- 

 ment into the text of the Thesis, which I begin to-morrow to 

 remodel, and leave the rest for a separate paper. By publishing 

 my result in two papers, I shall have the first and most im- 

 portant part, perfect as I hope to make it in itself, free from the 

 objections which may be raised against the second, and might 

 thus draw down undeserved condemnation on the first. Samuel, 

 my kind, estimable friend, will probably go to Birmingham ; if 

 he does, he will read my essay to them, as I have no thought of 

 going thither." 



Thus were the dreams of youthful years to a great extent 

 realized. Steadily upwards had been the course; unflinching 

 diligence and sturdy perseverance, surmounting difficulties at 

 which a less courageous spirit would have quailed. And often, 

 when looking back on student days, has he in later life ex- 



