150 MEMOIR OF THE LATE PROF. E. HODGKINSON, F.R.S. 



sequently he made rapid advances in the various studies to 

 "which his attention was directed. Here he laid the founda- 

 tion of that mathematical knowledge which he afterwards 

 applied with singular success to the extension and develop- 

 ment of the theory and practice of the strength of materials. 

 The bias of Mr. Hodgkinson^s mind at this period, and the 

 position in which his mother was left, seemed to require 

 a reconsideration of his future. He was now growing in 

 stature as well as in knowledge, and his mother found him 

 very useful to her in the outdoor work on the farm ; there- 

 fore it was deemed desirable to abandon the idea, once 

 strongly entertained, of prosecuting her son^s education 

 with a view of entering the Church, and to allow him to 

 devote his attention and energies to the skilful manage- 

 ment of farming. 



Mr. Hodgkinson therefore gave up all thoughts of the 

 Church ; and Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were changed for 

 more congenial subjects of study. He commenced at once 

 his career as a Cheshire farmer ; but although he felt it a 

 duty to assist his dear mother, and meet her wishes to the 

 best of his ability, still he made but little progress in his 

 new vocation. Farming, which had been thrust upon him 

 by sheer necessity, was not suited to his genius ; but he pur- 

 sued it for a time as a paramount duty, from which his con- 

 scientious devotedness to his mother and sisters would not 

 allow him to escape. The seeds of pure and mixed science, 

 which had been thrown broadcast into his youthful mind 

 by Mr. Shaw, were now beginning to germinate, and to 

 rise from their latent state into full and sensible existence, 

 creating, as they advanced to maturity, new wants and 

 fresh desires, which could not be gratified by farming or 

 the society of a Cheshire village. The fruit thus developed 

 at the village school indicated, with unerring certainty, a 

 different direction from Cheshire farming or the Church. 

 His mother saw this, and she was ready to bend to circum- 



