490 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 616. 



at work and also tried my hand at carpen- 

 tering myself. Other things I noticed led 

 me to take an interest in mechanics and 

 engineering, and I used to pore over an 

 old book called the 'Artisan,' which re- 

 ferred to these subjects and also described 

 some of the steam engines then in use, and 

 I tried to make an engine myself and got 

 as far as making the patterns for casting, 

 but I was unable to go any further for 

 want of appliances. I had always been 

 fond of drawing and sometimes copied 

 plans for my father, whose ambition was 

 that I might be an architect. This led me 

 on to painting and made me think I should 

 like to be an artist, and I worked away at 

 oil painting for some time. All these sub- 

 jects I pursued earnestly and not as amuse- 

 ments, and the information I obtained, 

 though very elementary, was of much value 

 to me afterwards. But when I was ^be- 

 tween twelve and thirteen years of age a 

 young friend showed me some chemical 

 experiments, and the wonderful power of 

 substances to crystallize in definite forms, 

 and the latter, especially, struck me very 

 much, with the result that I saw there was 

 in chemistry something far beyond the 

 other pursuits with which I had previously 

 been occupied. The possibility also of 

 making new discoveries impressed me very 

 much. My choice was fixed, and I de- 

 termined if possible to become a chemist, 

 and I immediately commenced to accumu- 

 late bottles of chemicals and make experi- 

 ments. About this time I changed my 

 school and was sent to the City of London 

 School, and to my delight found that lec- 

 tures on chemistry and natural philosophy 

 were given there twice a week during the 

 dinner interval. These I attended, and not 

 long afterwards the lecturer, seeing the 

 great interest I took in science, made me 

 one of his lecture assistants, my duties be- 

 ing to prepare the experiments, arrange the 

 table and assist at the lectures. This was 



a great lift to me, and I daily used most 

 of the interval for dinner and not infre- 

 quently all, but the abstinence from food 

 this caused did me no harm, as nearly all 

 of us eat far too much. This interval was 

 the only time I had for fitting up appa- 

 ratus and preparing for these lectures. 

 The lecturer was Mr. Thomas Hall, B.A., 

 one of the class masters, and he was very 

 kind to me and helped me in every way. 

 My father was disappointed at my choice, 

 and the outlook for chemists was, indeed, 

 very poor in those days, and naturally that 

 was a matter that weighed with my father, 

 but Mr, Hall had several interviews with 

 him and eventually I was allowed to follow 

 my bent, and at the age of fifteen I left 

 school and entered the Royal College of 

 Chemistry in London, where Dr. Hofmann 

 was professor. 



Under Dr. Hofmann 's able instruction 

 I soon got through the ordinary course of 

 qualitative and quantitative analysis and 

 also gas analysis; this I looked upon only 

 as a preliminary part of my chemical ac- 

 quirements and not, as many used to and 

 some still do, as a full equipment. Re- 

 search was my ambition and under the 

 professor's guidance this was entered upon 

 and the first investigation completed when 

 I was seventeen. I then became honorary 

 assistant in Dr. Hofmann 's research labora- 

 tory and helped to carry on his scientific 

 enquiries, and in this way I quickly ac- 

 quired a considerable insight into the chem- 

 ical science of that day, as well as experi- 

 mental experience. My time being much 

 occupied with the professor's work, I had 

 little opportunity of carrying on research 

 on my own account. I, therefore, fitted 

 up part of a room in my father's house 

 and made a rough laboratory, a very dif- 

 ferent place from the laboratories of the 

 present day. Spirit lamps and charcoal, 

 for combustion, had to be used as sources of 

 heat, as there was no gas. In this labora- 



