MEMOIR OF THE LATE PROF. E. HODGKINSON_, F.R.S. 151 



stances which she could not successfully resist. Hence he 

 persuaded her to give up her farm in Cheshire, and embark 

 her small capital in a pawnbroking business at Salford, 

 Manchester. Their friends advised this step, as the best 

 to promote the interests of the family, and satisfy the thirst 

 of Mr. Hodgkinson for scientific knowledge and society. 

 The family therefore moved from Great Budworth, Che- 

 shire, to Salford, Manchester, in the year 1811, when Mr. 

 Hodgkinson was about twenty-two years of age. This step 

 was the turning-point of his career ; and, but for this, in 

 all probability he would have past a life of inglorious ease 

 in a Cheshire village, unknown as a cultivator of mathe- 

 matical and physical science. 



His residence in Manchester was soon productive of im- 

 portant consequences ; his habits of thought became fixed, 

 and the line of scientific inquiry in which he was to advance 

 was not long left indeterminate. Manchester at this period 

 was in its youthful vigour ; it contained men of great in- 

 tellectual endowments, each anxious to distinguish himself 

 in some department of useful knowledge : amongst these 

 the names of Dalton, Henry, and several others stand out 

 preeminent. 



The business, under the control and management of 

 Mrs. Hodgkinson, assisted by her son and daughter, was 

 successful. 



Mr. Hodgkinson's spare moments from business were now 

 entirely devoted to reading any standard works on science 

 which he could procure. The works of Simpson, Emerson, 

 and Dealtry contributed greatly to his knowledge. He 

 read these authors with earnestness and fidelity, and was 

 wholly indebted to them for his knowledge of the higher 

 departments of mathematical research. Many of the self- 

 taught men of the last and the beginning of the present 

 century have expressed their obligations to Thomas Simpson 

 and William Emerson. Their works, whatever prejudice 



