232 BULLETIN OP THE 



activity of a co-worker.* For the first time he realized (though 

 with no conscious expression of the thought) that there is — so to 

 speak, — an imagination of the intellect, as well as of the emotional 

 soul; — that Truth has its palaces no less gorgeous — no less won- 

 derful than those reared by fancy in homage to the Beautifid. 



The owner of the book observing the close application of the 

 boy, very kindly presented it to him if and the thankful receiver 

 many years afterward placed upon the inside of its front cover, 

 the following memorandum : — 



"This book although by no means a profound work, has under 

 Providence exerted a remarkable influence on my life. It acci- 

 dentally 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 1 would immediately commence to devote ray life 

 to the acquisition of knowledge. J. H." 



The new impulse was not a momentary fascination. Thence- 

 forwai'd the novel was thrown aside, and poesy neglected ; though 

 to his latest day a sterling poem never failed to strongly impress 

 him. As it dawned upon his reason that the foundation of the 

 coveted knowledge must be the studies he had thought so irk- 

 some, he at once determined to repair as far as possible his loss of 

 time, (being then an apprentice to his cousin John F. Doty, a 

 Watch-maker and Silver-smith in Albany,) by taking evening 

 lessons from two of the Professors in the Albany Academy; 

 applying himself diligently to geometry and mechanics. And 

 here shone out that strength of will which enabled him to rise 

 above the harassing obstacle of the res angusta domi. With the 

 consent of his employer, so soon as he felt able, (although yet a 

 mere boy,) he managed to procure a position as teacher in a 

 country school, where for seven months successfully instructing 

 boys not much younger than himself, in what he had acquired, 

 he was enabled by rigid economy to take a regular course of 

 instruction at the Albany Academy. Again returning to his 

 school-teaching, he furnished himself with the means of complet- 

 ing his studies at the Academy; tvhere learning that the most 

 important key to the accurate knovv-ledge of nature's laws is a 



* "Tlipre is a great diff«^rence lietween reading anrJ study, or betwt'en 

 thfi indolent reception of knowledge without labor, and tliat effort of mind 

 wliich is always necessary in order to secme an important trutli and 

 make it fully our own." J. Henry. {Agricultural Report of tlie Patent 

 Offii-e, for 1857. p. 421.) 



f The title of this book is "Lectures on Experimental Philosophv, As- 

 tronomy, and Chemistry: by G. Gregory, D.D., Vicar of West-ham." 

 12mo. London, 1808. The owner of the book was a young Scotchman 

 named Robert Boyle ; who was one of the boarders at his mother's konse 

 in Albany, N. Y. 



6 



