REMINISCENCES BY PROF. H. C. CAMERON. 171 



fully were the experiments performed, that even the dullest mem- 

 bers of the class had knowledge forced into them almost without an 

 effort on their part, and the brightest were aroused to the utmost 

 enthusiasm. The writer remembers the occasion when the Pro- 

 fessor first formulated what may certainly be considered a very 

 happy expression. He was accustomed to dictate a syllabus of each 

 lecture to his assistant, who wrote it upon the blackboard for the 

 use of the class. The students were required to "write up" the 

 lectures from this syllabus, and from their notes taken during the 

 delivery of the lectures. But few books in the writer's library are 

 more highly prized than the two volumes containing these lectures, 

 especially when the kind words of the Professor in commendation 

 of them are recalled. But to return to the incident. He was 

 walking to and fro, and had just dictated: "We explain a fact 

 when we refer it to a law;" and then it occurred to him to express 

 the corresponding idea in a similar form : "We explain a law Avhen 

 we refer it to the will of God." He stopped, and exclaiming, "Yes! 

 that is it!" he repeated the expression. In his notion of law he 

 differed very much from the views of many scientific men of the 

 present time. With him the material never obscured the spiritual, 

 sense never gamed the victory over faith. While accepting all the 

 facts and established principles of science, his simple trust in Christ 

 remained unshaken, and his confidence in the God who reveals Him- 

 self in His Word, as well as in His works, was undiminished. 

 While, like Sir Thomas Brown, he could say, "There are two 

 books from which I collect my divinity ; besides that written one 

 of God, another of His servant. Nature — that universal and public 

 manuscript that lies expansed unto the eyes of all," he could also 

 add, that "the person who thought that there could be any real 

 conflict between science and religion, must be very young in science 

 or very ignorant of religion." 



Professor Henry was very successful in his experiments, and 

 took the greatest delight in them. His apparatus was always in 

 perfect order, and if failure ever occurred in his experiments it was 

 a matter of surprise, and could not be attributed to any failure on 

 his part. His lecture-room was in the upper story of the Philo- 

 sophical Hall, which formerly occupied the site of the present library; 



